Tempting a Dragon
by ScantronGrl
Summary: Gajeel witnesses the difficulties of dragon courtship through Natsu's own mistakes. He begins to reassess his own relationship with Levy as a result. M for future lemons. Parallel story to Poking a Sleeping Dragon NaLu .
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This can be partnered with Poking a Sleeping Dragon (NaLu). Not sure if I can keep this story going while working on the other one as well. I'm willing to give it a shot though. This is just a short first chapter. The next one will probably be posted later today or tomorrow. Thanks! **Please R&R!**

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The tune drifted in and out of his head like a lullaby as he took another bite of his breakfast. It's sweet chords and methodical rhythm were a great work-in-progress and would definitely knock their socks off once it was done. He hummed and smiled randomly as he began to fill in more to the song. Perhaps this was why he had a five foot radius of empty seats around him, as his guild mates abandoned their tables to get as far away as possible. He pretended he didn't notice as he swallowed his bite. The sound of tables snapping and glass breaking erupted behind him and he didn't even need to look to know that the guild monkeys were at it yet again. Gray and Natsu were probably fighting over something trivial as per usual, but it surprisingly ended rather quickly with Gray retreating through the doors with his proverbial tail between his legs. Sniffing scornfully at his nakama, he focused yet again on his food.

"Shoo-be-doo-ba," he sang softly under his breath as he took hold of another piece of delicious looking iron. It always managed to get his engine started, better than coffee in the morning. His wonderful solitude was rudely interrupted by a high-pitch, nervous voice.

"Gajeel!" He visibly flinched as he tried to make himself invisible. It didn't work. "Do you know where Levy is? I've been looking for her all morning!" Lucy cried a little too energetically as she seemed to beeline straight for him. That was when he got the first whiff. Not sure what it was, he snorted to get it out of his nose. The mentioning of Levy's name always made his ears perk up. It was an actual physical reaction every time and he was loath to admit it.

"How the hell would I know? I'm not her keeper," he grumbled, his good mood shattered. Where the hell was she anyway? Now that Bunny-girl mentioned it, he hadn't seen her in several days. Acknowledging her absence only seemed to irritate him further. Thinking he was safe from further inquiry, he proceeded to take a huge bite out of his breakfast only to be jerked out of his seat midway. He nearly bit his tongue off in the process and before he knew it he was standing outside, with Blondie still clinging to his arm.

"Do you mind telling me what's going on, Bunny-girl?" he growled after reclaiming his limb. Now without the other mess of smells to sort through, the odor assaulted him again. Half-coughing and half-gasping, he set out to investigate its source and immediately found it. It reeked of Natsu! And then the realization arrived with guns blazing.

"Wow, that's quite a scent you've got going on there. I take it that you and fire boy finally got it on and fairly recently I'm guessing." He knew instantly he had hit right on the head. His pride in rooting it out quickly vanished as he saw Bunny-girl lose it.

"Does EVERYONE know about this?!" she cried. Before he had a chance to react she was clamoring up his front and staring him dead center in the eyes. "You tell no one! Got it? Not a single word or I'll tell Levy I know where her panties have been disappearing to."

Gajeel's mind flat-lined. Panic set in. How the hell did she know?!

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_Flashback_

_Levy had promised him lessons on conjuring iron as a word, something he would find incredibly useful during battle. In all likelihood he'd never be able to master magic outside his own expertise, but he was insistent that it could be done. Levy, on the other hand, obviously needed some convincing as she kept making excuses not to meet with him. His patience was near bankrupt by the time she dodged him yet again at the guild. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He would invade her territory and find the spell himself!_

_Gajeel had made sure the coast was clear before slipping into her apartment through the open window. Upon immediate observation he was shocked by what a complete ordered chaos the place was in. Books were piled as high as the ceiling, presumably in some semblance of order, and the couch and chairs were obviously not meant for humans to sit on because they were already occupied by more books. As if finding himself in a foreign country, he examined every single detail with a huge depth of curiosity. So this was how she lived…_

_The sudden sound of the bedroom door swinging open froze him in his tracks. Gulping and looking everywhere, including the ceiling, for somewhere to hide, he decided on ducking down next to some books behind the couch. Levy, who apparently was __**not**__ out, strolled in fully absorbed in what she was reading. Absently making her way around her apartment with practiced ease, she fiddled with one thing or another. Her eyes never left the pages as she reached once for a towel hanging on the back of a chair, she missed and then tried again; still no loss of concentration. Once she had it in hand, she threw it over her arm while adjusting her glasses. Gajeel felt a warm wave wash through him as he saw her tuck her hair behind her ear as well. She was beautiful when she did that. His affectionate state disappeared instantly as he saw her slowly reach down and undo the buttons to her shirt. _

_Gajeel's mouth dropped open as he witnessed her preparing herself for a bath. He attempted to respect her by covering his eyes as sweat began to drip off of him in rivers. If he got caught now he was going to end up as road kill outside her apartment. He heard her throw her shirt over a chair across the room. Her shorts soon followed. There was a pause as she seemed to struggle with something. Gajeel's eyes flew open as he watched her bra in slow motion make a gentle landing on the other side of the couch. He gulped as quietly as he could as the saliva began to pool. Every so slowly, he began to raise his head to see her back was to him. He felt blood begin to pool in his lower region as he examined her silky smooth back and petite figure. She suddenly shifted a little and in a panic he ducked back down again. Suddenly, from nowhere a small pink clothe landed with a little plop on top of his head. A nuclear explosion seemed to go off inside of his head as he reached up to get a closer look at the discarded item._

_Levy was completely oblivious as she shifted the book to her other hand so as to wrap the towel around her body. Very quickly, she snapped the book closed and placed it on a nearby table, making her way back towards the bathroom. The sound of water suddenly rippled its way in and Gajeel gave a sigh of relief before jolting upright. He had to escape! Right now! Just as he was tiptoeing his way towards his original entrance, he heard Levy step back into the living room. Grunting in a panic he dove out the window only to land himself in thorny bushes below. Levy's ears twitched as she had been reaching for her book again. Going to the window, she looked suspiciously around before closing it with finality. Gajeel crouched, hyperventilating underneath for a few moments longer. Once he felt he was finally safe, he let out his breath in a gust of air, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. It was in that moment he noticed he still clutched the little pink panties. _

_"Gaaaah!" His eyes popped out of his head as he looked around in a frenzy, not sure what to do with it. His attempts to dig a hole and bury it were quickly interrupted as he noticed Bunny-girl out of the corner of his eye making her way down the street. Panic took hold as she drew closer. Seeing he had no other choice, he shoved it into his pocket and attempted to act casual. Lucy merely quirked an eyebrow at him and continued on. Believing he was safe, Gajeel made a fast escape from the scene of the crime, not knowing that his cover was already blown._

_End of Flashback_

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A/N: Hope that is a good start! Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Fair Tail.

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Gajeel was desperately trying to find a lie that would get him out of this predicament, but he began to realize the longer he stalled more incriminated he became. Finally, his body betrayed him as he felt the blood rush to his face. _Great man, why don't you just put up a neon sign that says "PERVERT" written all over it? _His lack of ability in the deceit department made itself abundantly clear, or at least when it came to things of a feminine nature. Lowering his head in defeat, he let his air out in one gust. Well, at least she wasn't demanding something completely.

Another thought hit him suddenly; a memory long since buried under the ash that was his past. Lessons, information, and books streamed past his mind's eye and it came to him what was told about when a dragon slayer finds the one he wishes to claim. And what came to mind was not all that pleasant.

"You've gotta take it slow though," he found himself blurting out and cursing himself in the back of his mind. He wanted to stay as uninvolved in other people's love lives as much as possible. Looking at Lucy though he had felt a gnawing guilt set in. She was his nakama after all and he owed her as much as a warning at the very least. He went on to explain the vague information that Metalicana had relayed to him not long before he vanished seven years ago.

The absolute loss of self during the process sounded fairly absolute and the scarring process of the mate was described as visible and profound. No other would think of then taking one's intended mate. The whole thing sounded messy, which inevitably made him incredibly reluctant to take any woman seriously. That is until… His thoughts were rudely interrupted as the offending smell was returning. Ugh, if she were a man, he would tell her to keep it in her pants!

"Argh! Would you cut that out Bunny-girl! I'll lose my breakfast!" He found it strange that her smell had become so repugnant to him and so quickly. As a result, he deduced that whatever physical binding that was supposed to occur, had already started to make its magic.

"So the claim has already begun. Your chemicals have started to arrange towards him."

"M...my what?"

"Think of it as a customizable partner, patented to fit only one user."

"I'm not sure I like the analogy..." Gajeel ignored her.

"If you reprogram too quickly, the partner can be damaged. That's part of the reason why I suggested you guys take it slow. It is possible to come out of this in one piece, but knowing that walking dunce cap, he has no clue about any of this and will just go barreling in. Someone could get hurt." He did withhold that there had been cases of some potential mates being known to not make it through the process. A lot of it seemed to have to do with the commitment and steadfastness of the dragon slayer to his intended. Knowing that idiot, Natsu, he probably was absolutely clueless about the risk he's running by initiating such a dangerous process.

Lucy still remained incredulous and he really didn't blame her for her disbelief. Unless he had heard it directly from Metalicana, he probably would have scoffed at it as well. It was too dangerous to mess around with on a whim. This entire conversation was leading him down a track of thoughts that he was not all that comfortable exploring, at least not at this time. He could already tell his mind was looking for a possible exit strategy before it all boiled down to one particular blue-haired girl.

"It's not that I don't like the idea it just all seems foreign and preordained. It doesn't settle well with me, and on top of that I don't even know what Natsu thinks of this whole situation…" Bunny-girl wasn't even seeing that he wasn't interested in the conversation anymore. Her next question though landed right on the target though, the one specifically he kept tucked away, buried, and out of sight. Damn women, always putting their noses in places they didn't belong. "Is that what you're doing with Levy right now? Taking it slow?" Now, now, now! Must get out now! Gods help Natsu with this woman, because he was gonna need it…

"No! It's nothin' like that... I... I..." From the corner of his eye, he saw his prey and he didn't think twice as he scooped up the exceed just as he was preparing to open the guild doors. "Lily! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for ya'. I saw some trees in back that'd look so much better with some holes in 'em." Pantherlily didn't protest, taking everything in stride as he was whisked off behind the main building, leaving behind a stunned stellar mage.

Gajeel let out a sigh of relief as he dropped the exceed without so much as an apology or explanation. Damn, this whole thing had stirred something up in him, and it would take a while for the dust to settle.

Pantherlily could tell quite easily that his partner was in a very dark mood, which is unfortunate for Gajeel, because his little flying cat didn't really care.

"What has you in such a snit?" he said, half prepared to fly off if an iron arm came shooting his way. Surprisingly, Gajeel merely glanced at him and grunted as he flopped down under a tree to lean his head back. The man was deep in thought, which was also never a good sign.

"I don't know what all the hype is about…" he growled under his breath. "Who needs 'em?" The exceed was completely lost.

"Who needs who?"

"Women!" he cried, as if it was so very obvious. Well, that cleared up a little bit of it, now that left about a thousand other things that could mean. Lily smacked his paw and drew it down over his face in frustration and wondered why he even bothered. Perhaps another angle then?

"Have you talked to Levy lately? Did you manage to get that Solid Script spell for iron?" Wrong button!

"I don't need that bookworm's help!" he yelled suddenly, baring all of his teeth.

"That's a shame. And here I was prepared to give you this book to look at in regards to that spell you wanted." The small lilting voice floated to him from behind and made him feel like he was choking on his heart. Taking a deep breath, he forced his face to fall into a glower before facing her. As magnificent as usual, she stood alone, book in hand. Her face, however, was not pleased. Her Gale-Force reading glasses were resting comfortably on top of her blue hair.

"Hey small fry, I didn't hear ya' coming," he snickered. She was unfazed by his usual crude behavior.

"Did you want this or not, Gajeel?" she extended the book out to him, but still refused to move any closer. He ignored it.

"Where have you been lately? Looking for another guild more at your level?" he jabbed at her. He could hear her teeth grinding and he felt a jolt of satisfaction or having gotten under her skin, if only a little. He was like a little kid, poking fun at the girl he liked and he was only subconsciously aware of it. Levy, on the other hand, was well aware of it, which was the only reason she put up with it. And because she secretly returned the sentiment, she put up with his lame attempts at covering it up. Gods know, no other woman would put up with his shenanigans. And it was also why she pretended not to notice him in her apartment last week. Just the memory made her smile outright.

"Wh-what's with that creepy grin?" Gajeel said suspiciously, not liking how quickly she recovered from his earlier prodding.

"Just imagining you attempting to learn this spell," she said as she dropped it into his lap seeing as he obviously was not going to be standing to greet her. It didn't matter; her height didn't exactly make her tower over him in the least. It was quite depressing actually and played on her already sensitive self-esteem.

"Don't get all snoody with me, small fry. I can still pin you to a tree any day of the week."

"You caught us off guard last time. I have no doubt you could grind me into a pulp as you have stated many times before, but I've gotten stronger and I would give you a run for your money," she spat out at him. He always managed to bring out the worst in her and it drove her absolutely mad. She was a nice person, a good person, a person who did not like to participate in such trivial bickering, but somehow Gajeel riled her up every time.

"Really? Tell me, if you're so strong, let's hear a little bit about your latest mission you went on with those two clowns?" She visibly stiffened.

That means he knew she, Jet, and Droy had taken the posting for that poor farmer a couple of days ago. The poor man was at a loss as his soil had gone dry and infertile. With her solid script magic, jet's speed, and Droy's plant abilities, they were able to bring back the farm to its full vibrancy. Sure, to Gajeel it was chickenfeed, but to that man it was his very life that was depending on her team's success. The fact he continuously belittled her and her companions was the sore spot for her and when he felt she was getting too close to him, he aimed for it mercilessly. Something had happened though today that had set him off early. He usually wasn't out for blood this early, actually he was overall nice to her outside of these moments, but she had still managed to grow a metaphorical armor.

Well today she wasn't going to play by his game. Today she was going to walk away. Without looking back, gave a huff and stalked off in the other direction.

"I think you made her angry," said Lily offhandedly. Gajeel shrugged unconvincingly as he flipped through the pages of the book Levy had handed him. Several pages were dog-eared and key paragraphs were highlighted. Looks as though she had gone through for him and made the reading process easier by writing in notes for him.

"Not my problem." He tried to sound careless, but a child could tell he was visibly forcing himself to remain seated.

"You could just go and apologize." Gajeel stood and snickered.

"Why would I do that when I'm just stating the truth?" To avoid further interrogation from anyone, he started off in the other direction, carefully cradling Levy's gift.

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A/N: I dunno, I feel like I'm off to a rocky start here. Please R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for sticking with me so far! Please R&R!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's doing.

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There's one thing that a person should know about Levy that Gajeel seemed to inherently acknowledge from the start. She was strong; a lot stronger than anyone tended to give her credit for, but despite this little fact, she was perfectly fine with others underestimating her. In truth, it usually played out to her advantage a majority of the time. It felt good being able to surprise people with her abilities on occasion. However, there was one person that she couldn't stand thinking her weak and he was the most incorrigible, stubborn, abrasive man she had ever met… And she loved him. Damned if she didn't wish she could change the way she felt, but the more she fought against the idea, the stronger it held her.

The psychological damage he dealt her upon their first meeting alone would scare off any normal girl, but Levy was far from faint of heart. She realized early on his M.O. His greatest form of defense was his steely tongue. The harsher the insult, the more vulnerable he felt, that's why the more he brought up their first encounter, the more she wished to hold him close. Perhaps it was a rather masochistic way of looking at it, but who else was there to understand that brute of a man? This was possibly the root of her desire to become stronger, which would allow her to feel she could stand next to this iron-clad man; a person who could be his right hand instead of a burden for once. She and Lucy shared the same insecurities in that neither felt quite up to snuff with the rest of the guild, or at least not with their love interests.

Please don't be misled here to believe she was completely over her most traumatic first encounter with him. When he does lash out at her, she isn't made of iron herself. She would feel the sting of those barbs aimed indiscriminately. For a while, she was fine taking the metaphorical hits from him, but it finally dawned on her that Gajeel was not going to budge. Something was inextricably holding him back from taking that last step towards her and it was making him angry. The poor man probably didn't even know why he was becoming more and more irritated as time went on.

With this conclusion drawn, Levy decided to take matters into her own hands and attempted to give him an extra little nudge in the right direction. It wasn't very difficult to do. From dropping a subtle suggestion to help him with a new spell to endlessly refusing him access to said spell, forcing him to come to her, it was only a matter of time before he came knocking. Perhaps it was a bit devious on her part, but she was becoming more impatient with every passing jab at her, whether it was her stature, her physical ineptitude, her "bookworm-ish" personality. When the time finally came, she was surprised it had even worked.

It wasn't very difficult to know something was amiss in the apartment that day. He wasn't used to being stealthy; brute force was something he preferred. It was all she could do not to burst into a human flaming torch of embarrassment as she suddenly had the idea to add another chemical into the mixture. Despite her complete mortification at her strip show she had to fight back a fit of laughter as she saw out of the corner of her eye his ogling eyes and panic-stricken expression. She actually felt a little bad for him, which is why he was allowed out of her apartment with as little embarrassment as possible on his part.

Later, she had felt a small pang of regret, letting him off so easily, especially after he seemed to come back swinging full force and plus some. He was trying so desperately to keep her away from him. The whole thing was turning into one big complicated mess and it was looking like hell would freeze before she would see any progress with Gajeel. However, Levy McGarden, wasn't anything but patient in these instances. Using her endless amount of forgiveness and sweet nature, she knew that eventually he would succumb to her. The key now was to figure out what it was that was keeping him from making the last leap. It boggled her mind and thinking about it only made her frustrated.

Having finally handed him the spell, she knew that he would be knocking at her door soon enough with clarifications and questions on her notes she had meticulously written along the edging of the pages. In all likelihood Gajeel would be unable to learn the spell any time soon so that would give her enough time to try to get him to open up more to her.

After that morning's encounter with Gajeel, Levy had wandered round full circle and ended up in her favorite place at the guild; the archives. It was filled to the rim with dusty books and scrolls older than her. Just being there made her feel a little bit in awe and incredibly small. Few actually ended up coming here which allowed her plenty of time to study to her heart's content. Most recently she had stumbled across a crumpled piece of parchment that must have been dated from several centuries ago. The last month she had spent trying to decipher the few words that had not been muddied from aging. _Crynthia_. _Nova link. Trinity maiden. _These seemed to be the only things she could gather from the paper and had since been translating other similarly aged texts as well.

Crynthia was apparently an ancient civilization, long forgotten and nearly written out of history due to an aggressive external force. Their specialty had been something called the Nova link, something to do with transference of an outer energy to be utilized in some kind of vessel. The power that would ensue was so dangerous that neighboring countries rose up and wiped the people from existence. She failed to find how the Trinity maiden had anything to do with the link, but she knew that it was a very intimate bond. The whole thing was shrouded in mystery. Even Master Makarov had claimed to know nothing about it, but Levy knew he had a track record of keeping secrets about ancient magic simply for the protection of the guild. Though, he did not openly request her to stop her research, he did give a word of caution.

"There are reasons these kinds of magic disappear from this world. Sometimes it is wise to let them remain that way."

Levy was a scholar and couldn't imagine leaving something like this alone. Overall maybe she could glean something to help aid her in her quest to grow stronger.

After having arrived in her sanctuary she quickly settled comfortably into her familiar place on a large, overstuffed cushion on the floor. A small table sat next to her with a lamp and some paper and writing utensils. On the other side was a stack of books and scrolls as tall as she stood. With practiced ease, she plucked one of the books from the side of the daunting pile without reducing it into a crumbled pile of unmanageable documents and settled familiarly into her seat. She eased her glasses down over her eyes and began to read the ancient language as best as she could. All of this had to be learned from scratch and was slowing her down, but once she figured out the transliteration she would be golden.

Levy had no clue how long she was down there, but for quite a while she had a very distinct feeling that someone was watching her. Shifting her book to the other knee as she fumbled to write down a note for herself on her table, she casually glanced up out of the corner of her eye at the 'L' shaped shelves leading to the archive's entrance. Standing just out of sight in the shadows and around the corner, as rogue as ever, stood her dragon slayer. He leaned his frame against the corner, arms and legs crossed, examining her. Her heart began a rapid dance around her chest cavity as she tried to act casual.

"It's not polite to stare," she finally said. He jumped a little, obviously unaware that she had seen him standing there. Trying to cover it up, he grinned maliciously as he stepped into the faint light. Many would see him as menacing and on some occasions, when Levy is reminded of their first meeting, her as well. It had taken a long time to lose the physical reactions to his presence, i.e. uncontrollable shaking, jittery feelings running up and down her spine, quickened heart rate. Wait… those were still there, just for different reasons now.

"And it's bad for one to read in the dark," he said back, a slight tone of genuine concern running the edges of his voice. She shrugged without looking up.

"I have a lamp." Gajeel glanced at the poor excuse of a lamp and frowned. She needs a better one. Levy interrupted his inspection of her lighting. "Did you come here to ask me something? Or just to mock me some more?" Some of the hurt seeped its way into her voice and it was not lost on Gajeel. He took another step into the light and Levy noticed a large bruise forming on his left cheek.

"Did you and Natsu get into another fight?" she said dryly as she looked back down to her book. She heard the amusement in his voice.

"In a sense, yeah you could say so." Gajeel had left the back of the guild on a quest to find a quiet place to read the book Levy had loaned him only to find himself wandering in front of Bunny-girl's place. He wasn't sure if it was intuition or the need to talk to someone about this dragon mating situation in relation to his own life, but he had arrived in the nick of time to keep Natsu from making a terrible mistake. After that, he remembered flying out the window after teasing Natsu incessantly about his jealous breakdown in front of Lucy. He couldn't remember much else after that.

"I hope you didn't cause any trouble. You two always seem to leave a trail of chaos in your wake," she said absently as she turned another page.

"Chaos huh?" Something in his voice made her stop what she was doing to look at him directly in the face. He was avoiding her eyes as he seemed to scan the shelves full of texts.

"Oi, when are you gonna shown me what you meant by that stuff you wrote in the book?" he said, squatting down perhaps a little too closely. Levy felt a light go on in the back of her head. Now… now would be the perfect time to continue with her plan to make Gajeel realize his feelings for her.

Snapping her book closed, she looked at him from over the rims of her glasses. Gajeel froze, the first inkling of foreboding wriggling its way in. He might have placed himself in a very undesirable position. She raised her hand easily, a silent gesture for him to hand her the book he was carrying with him. Hesitantly, he handed it over to her as she expertly flipped through the pages, slowly licking her forefinger to help ease the turning process. His eyes were riveted to her mouth.

"Here," she said softly, placing her finger over a particular passage. Gajeel craned his neck awkwardly to see at what she was pointing to. "This part here is where you should really concentrate on. You need to have a full command over your magic not only executing it, but in a physiological sense as well. To better understand this, one must understand scripting in its entirety."

"What the hell does that mean…" he grumbled, already feeling impatient.

"Well, look here, it explains here the very definition of solid script and…" She angled the book so he could see better, but he wasn't moving from his spot. Finally, in exasperation she dropped the book into her lap.

"It's no good if you're over there. Come sit here next to me so you can better see what I'm talking about." Alarms began ringing out in Gajeel's head as he explored the possibility of making a run for it without looking like a complete wimp. In conclusion to that train of thought, he quickly realized that was not an option. Sighing in defeat and grumbling all the way, he finally relented and sat next to her, just shy of her cushion.

"Come closer, there's no way you can read it there, it's too far away from the light." Damned lamp… definitely need to get her a new one. Hesitantly he scooted closer, resting his elbows on his bent knees, avoiding eye contact still as much as possible.

"Gajeel, do you want to learn this or not, because if you don't think you can do it, then don't waste our time with it." She hit it right on the money.

"Who said I can't do it?!" Gajeel played right into her hands. Closing the distance, he moved so that his leg and shoulder were gently brushing Levy's. "There, happy now?" he said irritably. Levy was glad the light was not enough for him to see her face start to blush.

Clearing her throat, she sat up straighter and continued to explain to him the intricacies, taking it as slow as necessary with Gajeel occasionally interjecting a question.

"Wait, what do you mean by 'manifestation of the magic'?" Gajeel said at a complete loss. Instead of reprimanding him for not following her, she just tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. At some point he was not clear on, his breathing stopped as she also adjusted her glasses. A small waft of her smell slipped its way into his nose. He tried to not inhale it, but damned if he was going to turn blue in front of her, much less pass out. Her aroma was sweet, with a small bit of some foreign spice. He wondered what it was she used for her shampoo.

"If you want that information, you'll need to look at this book. It'll clarify everything I just mentioned about 'manifestation' and its different techniques." Without much thought to her actions, Levy reached across Gajeel to the large pile of books and tried to pick out the aforementioned text. Levy had originally intended to attempt to seduce Gajeel, but whether it was loss of nerve or the sirens call of talking at length about her life's passion, she ended up abandoning the endeavor before it had even started. In all honesty, she was just too nervous to try anything and she veered like any normal person would towards that which made her feel comfortable; in this case, books.

Levy realized the book was actually higher than expected and adjusted accordingly. The top of her head lightly brushed up against Gajeel's chin.

"Where on Earthland did I put that book?" she muttered.

Gajeel for his part was trapped between heaven and hell. The scent of her was growing stronger as she shifted one way and then another. The deep seated hunger that he had securely placed a muzzle on woke up from its stationary slumber. His inner battle was thankfully interrupted as she let out a cry of victory, but he felt that it was too late, that hunger was awake and was already tugging against it's restraints. Pulling away too quickly for his own senses to readjust not having her near him, Gajeel reacted like someone who was about to lose his air. His arm shot out of its own accord and grabbed hold of the book while simultaneously engulfing her small hand as well. She couldn't let go. Her eyes widened in surprise as she tugged once and found it quite apparent that he was not going to release the book. She attempted to flex her fingers experimentally to allow him to take it instead, but his fingers held on stubbornly. Finally, it occurred to Levy that she was concentrating on the wrong part of his body and moved her gaze up to soak in his expression.

It was one she had never seen before. The absolute focus that was centered on her, his eyes were unblinking and unwavering. The intensity came rolling off of him in waves. No one had ever looked at her like that.

"Gajeel…" She didn't have time to finish her sentence as he swooped down to claim her lips in a hungry kiss, swallowing whatever she was going to say forever. Somewhere in the haze of her confusion she felt his grip loosen and slowly sweep its way up her arm to gently cup her cheek. Unsatisfied with the whisper of a touch, he settled it behind her neck and pulled her closer.

She couldn't breathe at all! He was filling her completely, through her nose, her lungs, her mouth, her very thoughts. Everything was filled to rim with nothing but Gajeel. Her body moved of its own accord, wanting to never be separated from this radiating heat. With a force that was surprisingly bold for someone of her size, she helped him in pulling her closer by pivoting her body further into him as his arm joined the concert of movements to slide its way around her waist. It was as if they had done this before, the feeling of intimacy was threatening to drown them as Gajeel took it to another level by sliding his tongue gently between her lips, slanting his mouth against hers as his hunger began to strain against its tightly maintained leash. A low growl worked its way out as his other hand slid down from its place on her neck to make a new home on her nether regions. Levy gasped into his mouth as his fingertips lightly brushed down her backside. It sent chills up and down her spine.

Gajeel was dizzy, so very dizzy, as he grew even drunker off of this heady aroma. It was growing stronger, heavier, and more potent with every passing breath. It made its way into his senses, to be permanently imprinted into his mind. It's a smell he would never forget. A sudden realization flashed through his mind like lightening. Ah gods… no… a small claw slowly raked its way across his thoughts, tearing away at the fog that had filled his mind. No… It tore that wonderful warmth one piece at a time. No… then the holes that were formed allowed his cognizance to return one thought at a time. This was exactly what he had been trying to avoid. She was imprinting on him. No, this was definitely not what he wanted… the reasoning was interrupted briefly as her hand gently placed itself against his heart, claiming it as her own.

"N…no," he was able to gasp out. Once he managed to let out one protest, the rest seemed to follow. "No, no, no, no, no…." Breaking off the kiss he practically crab-crawled rather ungracefully away from her. Just looking at her, sitting with disheveled hair, glasses discarded, legs angled seductively made him wild. Her lips were swollen from their heavy kissing, her eyes were foggy with passion, but it was quickly being replaced with confusion and hurt. Gods, he had done it! Exactly what he had sworn would never happen, he had gone and done it! Gajeel! You fucking idiot!

"I… I have to go…" he managed to croak out before turning headlong back into the entrance of the archives leaving Levy to her shattered heart.

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A/N: Hoping to catch up here with my other story as soon as I can. Love to hear suggestions!


	4. Chapter 4

WARNING: Major lemon alert. Also rated M for some language as well. Turn back if you are underage or are offended by lemons, cause this one is a doozy...

A/N: I've started to notice my lemons can get a little long, so sorry if it's a little dragged out. Please R&R!

DISCLAIMER: As is the case in every one of my Fairy Tail stories, none of the characters are mine.

* * *

Most women would have been broken beyond repair after the man they loved rejected them, but not Levy. Sure, she was initially hurt and inconceivably wounded, but that certainly didn't stop her from feeling angry and wronged at the same time. It was as plain as the nose on her face that he had feelings for her, so much so that it frightened him away, quite literally. Instead of wallowing in her own pain and anger, she stood up with determination coursing through her body. She didn't know what she was going to do once she found him, but Levy figured that the words would come when she saw him.

Without a thought to her surroundings, she left behind her precious reading glasses and unfinished work. Those weren't going anywhere, Gajeel, on the other hand, was.

The room was chillingly quiet after Levy left. No one was there to see the parchment begin to glow an ethereal blue. Whispers of an ancient language, long since buried could be heard in the undertones of the silence. The light grew as did the words, swirling upward into a net of scribes and signs.

_"Na'aku et venci gorrumdi."_ Over and over the words flowed outward, circling and then suddenly retracting, pulsing with a hidden goal. Loose paper began to take flight as the momentum of the light and sounds forced them into movement. And just as suddenly as it had started, it vanished. One paper fluttered down at the last, the old parchment Levy had so meticulously excavated. Inscribed all over were the missing letters she had so anxiously been seeking, waiting for her return.

* * *

It didn't take long for Levy to find Gajeel nestled tightly within an ongoing brawl in the middle of the guild hall. It was after all the place he was most comfortable. She had a sneaking suspicion that he saw it as the safest place to be at the moment to avoid any scenes with her. He had heard her footsteps following him with his incredible hearing and had made arrangements for them not to be alone apparently. A small smile played across her lips cynically. If he thought she wouldn't be able to get to him here, he had another coming.

Gajeel had picked a fight with the first guy he could find and unfortunately for Elfman, he was target number one. A well thought of insult spoken here, a surprise punch thrown there and the both were up in arms. It wasn't enough, Gajeel needed more. Looking around as he dodged the giant swings of the demon-armed mage, he spotted Gray and grinned evilly; a perfect distraction as well. Making a solid grip of his fist, he shot forth his iron arm at the unsuspecting ice mage, quietly minding his own business at the bar. Right in the back of the head, Gajeel never missed.

"Oops, sorry there Captain Underpants, I thought you were a fly on the wall," he shouted out as Elfman managed to trip him up. Before two fists could come crashing down on his stomach, he rolled to the side only to be faced with a rapidly moving fist from Gray. Droy and Jet always looked for reasons to take shots at Gajeel and pretty soon they too were right in the thick of things. Between all five of them it was difficult to make out who was what and what was who. All other nonparticipants quickly made it to the outer edges of the hall, allowing for the destruction to ensue.

Levy watched, slightly bemused. She grimly took note that her teammates were already down for the count. How childish, it's not like he could fight forever. He was going to have to face her sooner or later. Five minutes went by, then ten, then twenty, and by the time the thirty minute marker was rolling around Levy's patience was wearing thin. When one opponent was KO'd Gajeel instantly threw in someone else from the sidelines. It looked as though he was going to make a run for the longest fight ever held in the guild hall. With another sweeping look around the hall she noticed Gajeel's fiery counterpart was missing. He'll be mad that he missed this brawl. Glancing over at Mirajane's face, she saw the poor woman was at a loss; her guild hall was in shambles… again.

All right, enough was enough.

"Solid Script: Hammer!" The text loomed high over the group of combatants and everyone froze to stare up at it just as it descended on them, sending everyone flying in different directions. Everyone missed it by a hair's breath, except for one poor soul. He lay in a pile on the floor watching the stars and birds fly around his head as Levy huffed and stood over him, hands on hips.

"We are going to talk. Right now!" With that said she reached down and grabbed the back collar of his shirt, dragging him towards the guild exit. Gajeel couldn't seem to respond as he wasn't quite fully conscious yet. Silence filled the hall as everyone watched the two leave through the doors.

"So strong!" whispered Droy to Jet, somewhere between awe and fear. Jet nodded gravely.

"That's our Levy."

* * *

Levy was relieved that her place was not far from the guild hall. If it had been any further her legs would have given out. With little decorum, Levy kicked the door open, dragging the dragon slayer in the last few feet before dropping him like a sack of potatoes. She was heaving and sweating heavily as she rested her sweaty palms on her knees gulping in precious air. She noted she was a mess in disgust. Glancing at Gajeel who still apparently wasn't ready to wake up, Levy formed a thought that taking a quick dip in the bath wouldn't be such a terrible idea. Besides, she would feel much more refreshed and ready to talk with him once she felt clean.

With another glance, she cast her spell over all of the entrances to the flat. "Solid Script: Barrier." She slapped her hands together, ridding herself of any imaginary dirt. "That should do it."

Moments later she was stripped and dipping into a much needed soak. She couldn't help but let out a throaty moan as the warm water massaged her sore back muscles. Perhaps it was time to consider an actual desk and chair in the archives. Ah yes, the archives. It reminded her of what had just happened between them earlier, what was she going to say to Gajeel? Should she yell at him? Confess her undying love? She scrunched her nose disdainfully. That wasn't for her at all. Her thoughts were abruptly brought to a close when she heard a sudden crash from the living room. Taking a deep breath, she waited as she continued to listen; another crash followed by a very loud, "FUCK!" Looks like Gajeel was awake and found the barrier. Sighing, she decided it was time to face him whether she was ready or not.

Levy was pulling herself out of the tub, slick from the soap and water and reaching for her towel when the door flew open. Gajeel had obviously thought to try other windows in the house, thinking for some strange reason he was alone. He had never considered she was there still, much less in the tub… naked. Both were frozen in their mortification, and neither could look away. Levy was transfixed by the play of emotions that swept over him; embarrassment, curiosity, approval, and then finally absolute desire. Gajeel's throat was dry and felt as though it was covered in sand. The hunger was there again, more persistent than ever before. The chains holding its collar were strained at their limit, ready to burst at the slightest provocation. Levy's hand was still raised towards the towels and after a moment of thought, she let it slowly drop away, straightening the rest of her body. She had no clue what she was doing, but it felt like it needed to be done. Very carefully, with as little sudden movements as possible she let her hands hang loosely at her sides, trembling slightly. Her embarrassment was overwhelming, but her need to assert herself in front of Gajeel was even greater. Her chin came up proudly as her eyes connected with red ones. She felt his eyes leave hers to even slower than before wander down her body. He lingered on her delicate collarbones, her perfect breasts, the narrowing of her waist to gently spill over hips and down those slender legs. His journey back up to her eyes was just as slow and intimate. Levy could practically feel it all over her and it made her hot inside.

Oh gods, the scent was back. Whatever control he had over his hunger evaporated in a second. Shooting forward with a speed unique to dragon slayers he swept her up into his arms, reveling in the feel of her wet skin running along his. He didn't pay attention as they fell down into the water of the tub, splashing it everywhere. Levy was far from caring as their bodies submerged beneath the water. Gajeel wasted no time ridding himself of his shirt and shoes. Not wanting to lose a moment kissing her, he dove back in for another round of exploring the inside of her mouth before releasing her to trail kisses down her neck, spending time nipping and nuzzling as he went. His hands disappeared below the water surface and skimmed her skin, finding her hands clenched into tight fists. Prying one of them open he pushed it up against himself over his pants. Levy's eyes widened. Here she was now confronted with reality. The question stood, was she ready? Gazing up into his clouded eyes, she knew the answer already. With a groan, she pulled his head down to hers.

The sounds coming out of her mouth were intoxicating. It was a language all their own, nothing that could be studied or memorized, only felt deep down in the bones. Gajeel was feeling the urge surging ever higher as Levy daringly reached for the buttons on his pants, trying to undo them as quickly as possible.

"Levy," he managed before her small hands found their way in through a partial opening. He rutted against her instinctively. Still there was a voice in the back of his head that was yelling at him, but he was so far gone that he couldn't make out a single word, not that he wanted to.

"Make me yours, Gajeel," Levy said with half-lidded eyes, drunk on her passion. "I've waited for so long." The ferocity with which he used to hold her to him as their skin rubbed tantalizingly below the water's surface was almost more than he could stand.

"Open up your legs," he said gruffly. Levy complied readily, wrapping her ankles around his legs as he sought out the entrance that would allow him to make her his mate. The word echoed off the inner walls of his head and made him freeze in place. Levy felt and saw the change happening in his head instantly and she was prepared. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed hold of him and thrust her hips upwards, forcing him in as far as she could. Gajeel's head fell back as he strangled off a groan to the sudden wave of pleasure.

Levy had never felt this kind of burning pain before. It threatened to tear her apart inside and fortunately Gajeel was so stunned by this new development that he had failed to move any further than where she left off. After a few more moments, the pain became much more manageable as she rested the back of her neck against the tub, breathing heavily and biting her lower lip. Gajeel's head hung over her, his eyes squeezed shut, as if searching inwardly for some kind of saving grace.

Levy sought to sabotage this attempt as she experimentally shifted her hips up high again. This time the pain was less prominent and was slowly being replaced as she felt him rub against inside and out. She gasped and was a little surprised at herself for having come this far. Her actions were not going unnoticed by Gajeel. His fists began to shake as he braced himself on the edges of the tub as Levy continued to move her hips. His eyes popped open as he felt cool fingertips cup his cheek. What he found beneath him would forever be engrained in his memory. Her flushed cheeks sat above a mouth that had fallen open. Her eyes were filled with lust and desire. She arched her back wantonly, encouraging him to move more.

Unable to keep himself from answering her silent request, he pushed into her with more force. A small moan escaped her lips.

"Oh gods, Levy." He was torn, so very torn. He wanted with every fiber of his being to ravage her properly, but sitting malevolently in the back of his mind, sipping a martini was that fear, grinning at him. Again those soft fingers brought his eyes to hers.

"We can't turn back now, love. Please, stay with me." Gajeel's eyes widened and glossed over at how lovingly she had said it to him and the endearment… the endearment was the last push he needed.

"Levy…" Craning his neck and meeting her half way, they shared the softest, most intimate kiss either had ever experienced. Pulling back, Gajeel saw tears begin to pool at the corners of Levy's eyes as she smiled at him out of pure joy. Finally, he embraced her fully, banishing his fear to the furthest reaches of his mind.

Very slowly, he pulled back out and lifted her into his arms, amazed at how light she was. She was solid, but incredibly small as well. It was the strangest thing. With little direction he carried their wet bodies through the bathroom door, leaving puddles behind him as he found her bedroom. With a sigh of relief, they came together again in the fortress of blankets and pillows. Levy was surprised as he placed her adoringly on top of him, reinserting himself into her depths. They were incredibly smooth and warm, constricting and accepting him wholly. His hands gripped her hips, pulling her down as hard as he could, filling her as much as he could. Levy's head rolled back as she continued the labored task of breathing.

"Gajeel," she whispered, her voice laden with desire. Vaguely she was aware of the fact that he could now fully look at her without the security of the water, but at this point she hardly cared. Everything felt so incredible. Suddenly his movements stopped. She looked at him in confusion. Those eyes… those red eyes, the ones that used to give her nightmares, but now plagued her most desired dreams, watched her carefully as he twined his fingers with hers.

"Please yourself, Levy," he whispered hoarsely. At first she wasn't sure what he meant, but with a few movements of his hips, she began to pick up her pace. Within the first several tries, she instinctively established her own rhythm. Gajeel sat back and stared at her as she moved to a song that only she could hear. She twisted and wove her hips in ways that fascinated him. His admiration began to fade as his own needs began to take the lead.

Flipping her beneath him, he tried to gain more entrance by lifting her knees to her chest, spreading her wider than she had ever been in her life.

"I can't hold back anymore," he said more to himself than her. Swiftly he began to enter her over and over again, seeking his full satisfaction. Levy's moans and gasps for more intermingled with his own voice. Suddenly, her body jerked and she stopped groaning as her eyes fluttered shut, convulsions from her orgasms wreaking havoc all over her body. Gajeel smiled to himself proudly as he continued to take what he needed. Quickly he leaned down and pulled her upper body up off of the mattress to encircle one of her nipples with his mouth as he drew closer to his own heaven. He sucked down hard on her as he made a few more jerks of his hips. The breast popped back out as he buried his face between the two of them.

"Aaah!" Levy clung to his shoulders waiting as his body copied hers, twitching and giving off slight convulsions as he released himself into her.

The room went quiet filled only by the heavy panting of two who had just finished a marathon. Suddenly, Gajeel pulled away and rubbed his face harshly as he sat at the end of the bed. Levy sat up, clutching the sheets to herself, looking at him with worry. She slowly reached out and brushed her fingers against his shoulder, but he flinched away from her.

"We can't go any further with this…" Tears silently fell down Levy's cheeks as Gajeel continued to bury his face in his hands, despair settling in on him.

Little did they know that not far away, another dragon slayer and his partner were crying out with their own loss.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts? I do have a direction I'm headed with this and I think it'll be explained in the next chapter through Gajeel's stand point. His reasoning for this is completely different from Lucy's reasoning in _Poking a Sleeping Dragon_. Hope this works for you GaLe fans!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm not entirely confident with this chapter but things have been kind of busy for me to rewrite it... Please R&R!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's.

* * *

Gajeel came flying out of her room like a bat out of hell. Levy came trailing behind him, a sheet hastily wrapped around her with the full intent of chasing him down.

"Go any further?! I'd say we've gone beyond further, don't you think?" she said. Gajeel looked around in a near frenzy, trying to remember where his clothes were. The bathroom… probably soaking wet. Brilliant move big man.

"That's not what I meant, Levy," he said as he plummeted into the bathroom and found said clothing all over the floor, completely saturated with water. He quickly located his pants and put them on, ignoring the added weight. He glanced around, looking for his tunic.

"Then tell me what you meant. You wanted it as much as I did." He found it and began to wring it out. Yep, there was no denying that as he noted the absolute mess they had made in there. He shoved one arm through one of the holes, failing to respond to her. She plowed forward. "You can't tell me it didn't mean anything to you either." Gajeel paused only to continue just as quickly, weaving his remaining arm through the other hole. Jerking his shoulders up as his hands pulled the front forward, he settled the vest fully over his torso. He began to hastily fasten the front. Apparently it required his full attention, thought Levy dryly.

"Is it because you're still hung up on what happened when we first met?" A growl rolled out of his throat in warning and at that moment, he did look directly at her. It was still a sore spot for the both of them.

"If that was a problem for me I never woulda had anything to do with ya," he pointed out roughly before he moved on to locate his boots.

It was true, guilt had been his primary feeling towards the bluenette, but the all encompassing magnetism she held over him was too much for him to stay away. The guilt was still alive and kicking, almost as poignant as it was when he first got to know her. Hell, it tore at him and would stab him in the back out of nowhere. Sometimes as he was walking down the street, the memory would materialize before him and then disappear just as quickly. It was as if it refused to be forgotten or thrown to the back of his mind. And it was his burden to bear; it was his punishment to bear that guilt forever.

That in itself was a battle all its own, but with the sudden realization months earlier that this was far beyond compensating for a wrong done to an innocent, but more into the realm of actual _feelings_, Gajeel panicked. The little bit of information about the mating process that Metalicana had told him came flooding back. It was supposedly a fairly harrowing experience for the intended partner. It required full commitment and devotion from both parties. Anything short of that could end with terrible repercussions. It was the unknown of what could happen that worried him the most. Was that a risk he was willing to take with Levy? He would sooner cut off his arm than bring her harm and especially if it was he who was presenting the danger. He would just have to learn to keep it in his pants. Simple enough, right? He glanced at her and saw that the sheets weren't doing much to hide anything from him. He swallowed loudly.

Where the hell were his boots? With an inward groan he remembered they were probably sitting at the bottom of the tub. Levy glowered at his back as he began to fish them out of the water. Finally, she spun around and left the bathroom completely. Gajeel was slightly surprised and maybe even a little hurt that she had given up so quickly, but in the end, he counted his blessings as he unsuccessfully tried to drip-dry his boots over the tub. Decidedly taking forever, he gave up and shoved them under his arm as he made his way out of the bathroom only to come up short, finding Levy completely dressed and waiting with arms crossed over her chest. Yet another inward groan erupted in his head, or maybe that was out loud, he wasn't sure.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about or not?" she said calmly.

"It's better if we just leave it alone," he said half-heartedly before making his way towards the door.

BAM! ZING! He fell backwards as his head slammed full force into an invisible wall teaming with electricity. Stunned, he fell back onto his rear, smoke rising out of his now upended hair. That shrimp put up another barrier while he was in the bathroom! And it was charged too! He turned wide eyes up at Levy who smiled innocently.

"H-how did you…"

"Combine script elements? I've been studying," she offered as she squatted down to his eye level. "Are you ready to talk like two adults? Or do you want to see what else I've learned?" Gajeel glanced at the windows and back at the door. Nope, he was definitely not interested, at least not as long as he was the primary focus of her spells. At a loss, he dumped his shoes where he sat and stood up only to flop heavily down on the one available chair in the room. Silence. Finally, Levy became aware that she was going to have to break the ice. Seeing as questions weren't the way to go, she took it from another approach.

"When I first found out you were joining our guild, I was terrified and wasn't sure if it would force me to leave Fairy Tail." She saw him tense slowly in the chair as his head hung down with his elbows braced on his knees, and not knowing what else to do with his hands he clasped them together. His knuckles squeezed together involuntarily. She pushed forward. "But one thing stopped me… your eyes. I don't remember much from when you ambushed us, but I do remember your eyes. Despite the chaos of that moment, I remember how red they were and I saw your anger and, even though you were trying to hide it, your pain." The knuckles turned white. Levy clasped her own hands behind her back as she paced back in forth in front of him, glancing around the room, trying to find the words. "It wasn't until much later that I realized I had forgiven you the moment I saw it." Gajeel finally spoke.

"I don't want your forgiveness," he barked angrily. Ah yes, there was the defense mechanism right on cue. She was getting close.

"But you need it, Gajeel," she immediately countered.

"I don't need it, I don't deserve it. If you have any shred of common sense, you'll give it to someone who does. But not me… never me." Levy held her breath, preparing for what she was going to say next. He wasn't going to like it, she was sure of that.

"I don't see how that will work for us, Gajeel. Because you love me," she said firmly. "And I love you." She could hear his teeth grinding. A normal man would have been ecstatic to hear a confession from the woman he loved. He would have swept her into his arms and proclaimed his own in return. But no, not him, he wasn't normal in any sense of the word. Instead of doing any of it, he simply did what was expected of a man being attacked; he lashed back.

"You idiot, I don't love you!" He finally looked up from his hands. His eyes were a swirling vortex of rage. Standing at his full height, garnering his battle aura, he grabbed hold of her upper arms and yanked her close so that his face was right up against hers.

"I don't love you," he repeated as the fire in his eyes raged on. "You're weak! You're a fly that continuously buzzes around my head, one that I allow to stay because of my good graces, but would crush without a second thought. What stops me is _pity_," he sneered cruelly. "Not guilt. You are pathetic and insignificant. You don't think I could pin you up on a tree again just because we fucked once and that makes you special? I'd do it without a second thought. You think that you're so smart, but you don't know a fucking thing Miss McGarden. If you were smarter you would know better than to fall for a guy like me. Because I will not be held back by anyone or made weak. I will not be manipulated. Because I am Gajeel Redfox. I… love… no one! And I especially do not love _you!_" He spat the last word out with as much disdain and vehemence as he could muster.

Levy rode out the storm in silence, gazing calmly at him as he threw his tantrum. He had taken out quite a few of the stops this time, but she had been mentally prepared for the worst. Her eyes were dead as she stared back at him.

"Are you finished?" she whispered. Gajeel was practically heaving as the force needed to get those words out of his mouth took the largest toll he had ever suffered in battle. Before he could respond she reached up with surprising swiftness and grabbed hold of his face, pulling him in the last bit of distance separating them. Her lips locked possessively with his. They were confident, unwavering, and honest. Every word that he had said hurt more than what he had physically dealt her so long ago, but she felt rather than knew that they were tearing at him just as much.

"Love me or not, I still love you. Beat me, strip me, torture me, I'll still love you," she gasped as she conveyed physically and verbally what was impossible to convey wholly. "If I am too weak, I will become stronger for you." Her lips sucked on his lower one as her hands snuck in and began to undo the front of his tunic again. "If I talk too much, then I will become your shadow and not say a word. I'll do it all Gajeel." The man had no chance of fighting against her. All of his will power had been spent at this point. Those words he spat out would never disappear. But despite all of them, she still pulled him to her. How was he supposed to fight that when she had so blatantly brushed off his kamikaze move?

Levy felt his hands shaking slightly as he moved to wrap around her shoulders, holding her against his chest. He pulled away, burying his head gently in her neck as she continued to stroke his chest with her fingers. The air had finally cleared of the inferno that was Gajeel Redfox.

"I don't want to hurt you again," he whispered finally, honestly for the first time. Levy smiled gently against his skin and pushed her hands into his tunic, pushing away the fabric as she wrapped them as far as she could around him, enjoying the feel of his skin sliding against hers.

"You won't hurt me." He shook his head slowly, not lifting it.

"The dragon courtship is too…" Dragon courtship? Those words alone filled in quite a few of the blank areas. Levy pulled back as far as she could, forcing him to finally look at her. There weren't any remnants left in his eyes of his final defensive move.

"Gajeel, you won't hurt me," she said resolutely. "If you're really worried about it, I'll become even stronger. So strong maybe even I'll give you a run for your money." The corner of Gajeel's mouth twitched.

"I wouldn't get too cocky, Shrimp," he grumbled. A smile spread across her face and he felt that twisting sensation in his chest again.

"Get ready for it, Gajeel Redfox, because here comes Levy McGarden."

* * *

A/N: I'm always thankful and happy to read your reviews. Thanks for all of the nice compliments and encouragement. I hate the thought of disappointing any of the readers... If I do, please be sure to call me on it!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Been struggling with the story line and getting to where I want to be with it, but if I can just push through the next chapter or two, I should get rolling again and finally be able to merge it with _Poking a Sleeping Dragon._

DISCLAIMER: Hiro Mashima created Fairy Tail.

* * *

It was much too cramped in that corner of the archives, Levy acknowledged; much much too cramped, and definitely not well ventilated. It was amazing what things she had failed to notice until Gajeel had found her there the next day. After having realized that he would probably need to change his name, face, and overall gender to avoid Levy from that day forward, Gajeel came to the conclusion that perhaps fate would be kinder to him than before if he just gave in to his desires. Perhaps it was all right to have a little hope and, dare he think, be a little happy.

Gajeel was happy all right, beyond a little of course, and he expressed this three more times to Levy before relenting in allowing her sleep the night before. He had woken to find that her side of the bed was cold and it made his heart stop right in his chest. Looking around he saw nothing was out of the ordinary. Then his gaze fell upon a small note, left innocently on the nightstand next to the bed.

_"Gone to the archives. Be back soon."_ Gajeel smiled slightly at the message as it was signed with a heart and an uppercase "L." It was going to take some getting used to this kind of relationship, but the idea didn't exactly chase him in the other direction like he had originally thought. Also, the urge to utterly rip her to shreds during their lovemaking had not really been there at all. It was a pleasant surprise for him. Maybe this whole courtship thing might have been blown out of proportion. He found himself smirking. Poor flame brain. Maybe he had spoken too soon to Bunny-girl. It's not like he had anything to really base his knowledge on other than what Metalicana had told him over seven years ago when none of it was of interest. He honestly never thought it would ever become a point of contention for him as he couldn't imagine being with anyone forever. Right now, all of that aside, he was content, more than content he was fucking floating on cloud nine! All he wanted to do was run around the guild, sharing that goofy happiness in the form of nuggies and good-natured headlocks. The very thought of doing that made him cringe, but well, you get the picture, the dude was happy.

In fact, perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to share that happiness, he thought sadistically. Archives huh?

And that's where he found her, curled up on top of her cushion, attempting to make heads or tails from the mess that had inexplicably appeared since the day before. Levy had spent most of that morning trying to stack them appropriately, but that all went to hell the moment she heard the door lock and saw Gajeel turn the corner. She felt like she was some prey, trapped in a cage and it was exhilarating. Gajeel had wasted no time sweeping her up into a heated embrace, pushing her up against a bookshelf while simultaneously taking another one down. Levy had mentally rolled her eyes as he proceeded to pull her short over-shirt down her shoulders, successfully trapping her arms.

Within moments they were rolling all over the floor defiling the ancient scripts as Levy gave in to the roaring furnace in her belly. He rejoiced in whoever had invented skirts because Levy was wearing one at that moment and he made a point to make sure he insisted she continue to wear them everywhere at all times. Pressing down into her, Gajeel wrapped his arms around her back and cradled her head in his hands in the tenderest way. She gave soft hums of approval as he entered her persistently. She noticed he hadn't even bothered disrobing and she was slightly annoyed that he still had her arms pinned or else she would have taken care of that for him, but he was so entrenched in his pleasure that it would be an act of the gods to reach him. Deciding to give in and just roll with it, she allowed him to take to his heart's content as he pushed her over the edge not once, but twice. She didn't even know that was physically possible until the night before.

"Gajeel!" she cried as her second orgasm wracked through her body. A low, inhuman growl erupted from his mouth as he made his final push towards claiming her, yet again. The growl surprised her as she stared up at him, watching as his upper lip curled back revealing elongated incisors. Were those that long before? She didn't feel any fear, but pure fascination. She trusted him implicitly. Gently, she reached up and touched her fingers to one of the pointed edges as Gajeel continued to lose himself in the waves. She pulled her hand back quickly as the tip pricked one finger that had been careless. A tiny droplet of blood began to bubble up, escaping from the confines of her body. Gajeel's eyes flew open, instantly recognizing the scent and stared down at her. She didn't look at him as she also stared at the tiny ball of red. Finally, after assessing that she was all right, he turned to look at what she was staring at. His eyes widened as his hand flew up to investigate his mouth and flinched as it came away as well with a tiny pricked finger.

He pulled away swiftly, covering his mouth and cradling his head in both of his hands as what had just happened settled in.

"Gajeel, it's ok, I'm ok. Nothing happened, it was my fault," Levy immediately said. She was interrupted as Gajeel's head shot up and glared at her. Oh boy.

"Nothing happened?! Drawing blood is _not_ 'nothing'! What next? I rip your throat out?" His voice cracked at the last.

"It was my fault, Gajeel! I wasn't thinking…" She felt as though in the span of five seconds he had completely changed his mind about them. "It's nothing, see?" she quickly sucked away the blood and showed the now clean finger to him. "Nothing."

"Stop saying, 'NOTHING'!" he yelled. He lowered his voice forcibly. "It's not 'nothing,' Levy. Any harm to you is unacceptable. There are too many 'what if's' and things I don't know." He looked disgusted. She wasn't sure at who or what it was directed, but all the same, she felt him teetering on some kind of precipice.

"Then let's find out more about it. We're in the archives, aren't we? There's bound to be something here that will help us understand what is happening." Gajeel rubbed his face as if suddenly feeling very tired.

"I need some air," he said under his breath. Standing and readjusting his pants, he stormed towards the exit.

"Gajeel!" Levy winced as the door slammed shut, probably splintered in multiple places from the abuse. "Stubborn man," she grumbled. Well, if he wasn't going to help that was just fine. She had no problem doing the legwork, it was her point of expertise after all. Setting aside the task of reorganizing the scrolls and papers strewn across the floor, she began searching for ancient history and dragonology books. There was a reason that Gajeel didn't know very much about dragon courtship and a lot of that had to do with the fact that dragon's were very private creatures, involved in a completely different social and physiological structure than humans. It's a mystery as in to why they would take any interest in teaching their secrets to others, much less giving the humans ways in which to slay them. Aside from the dragon slayers, no one had heard from them in ages.

It took her three hours to scrounge up two measly books on dragons and even they were rather vague on details. It took an additional hour to try to translate sections of the books that were written in the old tongue. Even after meticulous decoding and rearranging, she was nearly at a loss. Near the bottom of a page at the end of the second book, she finally stumbled across a small passage that gave her pause.

_Mingle the blood of the victorious two to beget strength under a distant sun. __Death awaits weak constitution. __Pass a cycle of the moon without begotten strength, unleash the Hunger. _

These few sentences raised more questions than anything else and it was not settling seeing the words 'blood' and 'death' all within the same context. The book itself was a hodgepodge of text brought together across time and places. The words had different meaning, depending on the timeline. 'Strength' was viewed in the north many centuries ago as a reference to one's physical abilities, as was the present interpretation. But in the south during the same era, many considered 'strength' to be based on the materials owned and economic clout. In a previous time period, the meaning referred to fertility and large families. In other instances, it referred simply to ones intellect. Then there was the matter of the 'mingling of blood.' Did that refer to some of the blood rights that could be dated back several generations in the west? Or was it as simple as that; make a cut on both arms and then blend the blood? What kinds of rituals were the words referring to?

What was the Hunger? What did the text mean by 'weak constitution'? 'Cycle of the moon' was obviously one month and it was a warning. What would happen in a month? See? More questions than answers! None of it settled well with her. In the end, she felt herself leaning once again on her methods of deduction. Through a very complicated system of math and formulas, Levy made a very doubtful conclusion that strength referred to physical might. Or was it material gain?

"Argh!" Levy threw her hands up in the hair and then ran them in a frenzy through her blue hair. This was showing her nothing but her own insanity. With a solid thud, she snapped the book covers together and dropped it onto the floor in front of her, her chin fell onto her clenched fist, still trying to work through the labyrinth of information. Sighing, her eyes fell down to look at the book, offhandedly glancing at the surrounding mess of papers. Slowly her gaze swept over to the right, then the left, feeling an overwhelming desire to just get up and walk away.

Those thoughts were immediately banished as her eyes caught on an old piece of parchment. That's funny, she didn't recognize it at all. With a delicate frown, she leaned forward and gently scooped it up into her hand, bringing it closer to examine it. Her eyes widened into saucers as she realized it was the Crynthia document, only the information had been altered. Well not altered, but filled in! The previously faded words looked as though they had just been written only moments earlier. Levy looked up and around her, but then felt silly for thinking someone had recently walked out of there after doing something so incredible. To her knowledge, no one in Fiore would have the ability to do such a thing, but the proof was right there in front of her. Perhaps it was a type of magic?

Suddenly, the words in front of her began to glow softly, throbbing brighter with every passing moment. Levy's eyes were transfixed by the warm light it emitted, watching as the text began to lift up off of the paper, dancing round and round, higher and higher. They shifted and twisted so that they began to circle her body, pulling in closer until they were brushing her skin, slithering up her arms and torso, to her neck and ultimately reaching her eyes and ears. Swiftly they took entrance anywhere they could find, pouring into her like a torrent.

Levy's head fell back with her mouth gaping open in a silent scream. The room was filled with gusts of wind as the words continued to swirl and dance then falling into their new-found vessel. Finally there were none left, just an old crumpled empty paper clutched in her hand. She sat there, eyes wide and unseeing for long moments. Very slowly, her hand rose up so she could stare at it, turning it side to side, as if it was some foreign object. She clenched it experimentally and then brought it to her face, gently touching her cheeks, lips, nose, and eyes.

"What… just happened?" she finally whispered.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Please R&R!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Please R&R! Always appreciate your support. Been in a bit of a writing slump, but if you stick with me for another chapter or two I hope to make up for it!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's.

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Gajeel was feeling riddled with guilt and insecurities, doubt and anxiety. Most of these things he was not particularly good at processing, but given the point of origin he couldn't see any way of avoiding them. Perhaps he had rushed in too quickly. That's what you get for throwing caution out the window and putting happiness first. People could get hurt, more specifically, Levy could get hurt. Maybe he was lucky that he had this wake-up call before it got too serious. Ah hell, it was serious. He cursed under his breath as he ordered another drink from Mirajane. The beauty smiled innocently as she poured him another.

"Love got you down?" He spluttered into his glass mid-drink and shot daggers at the woman across the bar. Moving further away, she acted as though she hadn't said a word.

Gajeel turned his eyes back down to the saving grace in his hand. At the bottom of that glass rested a sure-fire way of getting away from this madness, away from the questions. The liquid disappeared quickly down his throat as he slammed the bottom of the glass onto the bar. Nope, it wasn't at the bottom of that one, maybe the next one then. He twitched two fingers at Mirajane, silently indicating he wanted more. Obviously not pleased with his methodology of dealing with his problems, she grudgingly poured him another.

His fangs had grown. They had penetrated her skin and drawn blood. Grant it, it was because she had simply been curious, but the point was that the danger was there and very real. Even though his teeth had grown at the end, he still had not felt a need to sink his teeth into her, but did that mean he was just going to sit around waiting for it to happen? He had spent the last hour wracking his memories for some clue hidden in the lessons his foster father had given him. What was it that Metalicana had told him? Something about claiming a mate brings out the inner dragon. Or was it something like one's own demise? Ball and chain? Argh! He was getting nowhere at this rate.

Suddenly, out of the blue Natsu plopped down onto the barstool next to him and made a similar signal to Mirajane that Gajeel had just given her.

"Whisky," he said. The low energy in his voice that was so uncharacteristic of him caught Gajeel's attention immediately. Yes! Someone else to take his mind off of Levy.

"Well, if it isn't little flicker. I assume you and Bunny-girl boinked it out after I left?" he said crudely with a mock grin. Gajeel was slightly jealous of the fire dragon slayer. The complete oblivion that Pinky was living in must have been nice for a change. Lacking in common knowledge made it easier to just avoid women issues all together. As his counterpart slowly turned his head to look at him, he took back everything he had just thought about those two. The man looked like hell! Instead of being lit up there was a depression that hung over him that rivaled Juvia's that is before she met Gray.

"Not now, you fuckin' toad." That was it. Nothing else to add. No blustering or hollow threats, just the ultimate brush-off.

"Toad?" Gajeel was baffled. "You can't call me a toad and leave it at that! I'm not exactly in the best of moods either you pink-haired worm. In fact, maybe I'll just give you a face full of…" Gajeel was midway through his threat when he was rudely interrupted by Natsu's flaming fist. The fire dragon slayer hadn't even moved besides the offending limb. Gajeel plummeted off of the stool, stunned.

"I said not now," Natsu repeated as he knocked back a whisky. He scrunched up his face as it slithered down his throat. It didn't look like it sat very well, but Natsu went ahead and called for another.

On most days, Gajeel would have been at Natsu's throat within a breath of a second. Most days he would have ground the little twerp into a fine dust, or fed him into a blender. But this wasn't most days. Today was a day Gajeel feared would come all too quickly, the day that he might lose someone dear to him, just like he had lost Metalicana all those years ago. It made him feel lost, just like the day he woke up and found Metalicana was gone.

Half the guild had stopped what they were doing to eye the slayers, assessing whether or not now would be a good time to exit the building, but surprisingly Gajeel simply stood up, righted his stool and sat back down. After a few moments of silence and drinking, the guild fell back into its usual rhythm.

"I don't get it. No matter how many times I try to understand her, I just don't get it!" Natsu mumbled under his breath, downing his third drink. Gajeel felt the corner of his mouth go up. So it _was_ woman issues.

"You and Bunny-girl have a fight?" Natsu glanced at him suspiciously, trying to guess whether or not the iron dragon slayer was actually interested in the topic. Drawing the conclusion that he was in fact curious, Natsu relented.

"Not really. She doesn't want to have sex with me," he said blatantly. For the second time that day, Gajeel sputtered mid-drink.

"Well, no wonder if you're talking about it so casually!"

"That's sort of what Lisanna said too. But I don't see what the big deal is! I told Lucy she was special to me, but all she said was she was sorry and then told me to leave. I thought telling a woman she was special was supposed to make them happy, not fall off the deep end!" Gajeel rolled his eyes. It's a wonder this guy even managed to get laid in the first place.

"Didn't she tell you about the courtship process?" Gajeel said darkly, suddenly being reminded of his own problems. Natsu nodded absently as he stared into his next drink.

"But I'm not courting her, so I don't see how any of it is a problem. She's the only person I would do it with. I didn't want anything to change between us because we were already such a great team together. At the same time, I can't imagine being with anyone else like that and the thought of her with someone else is…" Gajeel noted the slight squeezing of Natsu's hand around his glass, which squeaked slightly in protest.

"You idiot," growled Gajeel under his breath. "That is courtship, or a form of it I think." Natsu sipped his drink, still not liking the taste, but he was stubborn. Once he decided to have a go at something, nothing would stop him.

"I don't know a lot about that stuff, but wouldn't it require her to actually want to be with me?" Gajeel was silent. Natsu continued. "If she just wanted the same thing as me, this would have been so much easier, but I don't know what the hell she wants." Levy's big smile flashed in his mind's eye and Gajeel felt warmed for a brief moment. She wanted to be with him, so much so that she was willing to place herself in harm's way. In comparison to Natsu, he knew exactly what Levy wanted, it was he who didn't want to screw it up. Then it felt like a fog he hadn't even noticed surrounding him began to dissipate. She wanted to be with him. He wanted to be with her. What was stopping them from being together? It was him! Wasn't it exactly what he had told Bunny-girl? The courtship required full and utter commitment on both sides. He and Levy had that, so who was to say they couldn't make it work?

Then the fear reemerged, still holding its martini and smiling sadistically. Yes, but what if something did happen? There's no going back from that, is there? Once she was gone, that was it.

On the other hand, if he just knew more about the whole thing, maybe… That's right! Levy had said something about looking into it together. Maybe she was still there in the archives. Maybe if they found a way together…

Gajeel suddenly stood, surprising even Natsu out of his stupor.

"Commitment. Show her some," was all he said to Natsu before heading for the archives. Natsu was stunned. It was probably one of the few times in his life that Gajeel offered candid advice. It was something to think about as he downed another drink, the number in which he had lost count of.

* * *

Gajeel threw open the door with a bang in his rush to get back to Levy's side. His hope rose up above the clouds as he saw her huddled among the books where he had left her. He expected her to be madly flipping through resources on dragons, but was stunned to find that none of it seemed even remotely close to the topic. His eyes scanned the titles as Levy seemed to so absorbed in her research as she didn't even acknowledge his presence. Gajeel felt his studded brow scrunch together in displeasure. Admittedly, he liked the special attention she always seemed to give him. He cleared his throat loudly. No response. Moving forward and squatting down in front of her, he stared into her face.

Levy's eyes were moving rapidly over the books and scrolls. Was this her way of punishing him for leaving earlier?

"Oi, Shrimp…" Still no response. Instead she simply turned a page before quickly scribbling something down elsewhere. "Levy…" Her head tilted slightly as if barely comprehending someone was talking to her. Finally, having enough of being invisible, Gajeel reached forward and grasped her shoulder. Levy's head jerked up quickly as if completely stunned he was there. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision. Gajeel could have sworn he saw an abnormal glow behind the pupils. "You ok, Shrimp?" he said roughly, releasing her immediately. She shook her head to clear it and smiled at him.

"Gajeel! Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I was just doing some research…" Her eyes seemed pulled back to the papers. He felt like he was going to lose her again.

"On dragons?" he said, ducking his head to try to maintain eye contact unsuccessfully.

"On what?" she said, barely hearing him now as she picked up the book she had dropped moments earlier. Gajeel was shocked to say the least.

"D-Dragons… you know, the courtship, mating rituals…" his voice trailed off. "Come on Levy, I'm not good at apologizing. I'm sorry ok?" She didn't look up, almost completely lost to him again.

"Sorry for what, Gajeel?" she seemed impatient now.

"For you know… walking out… You know what, let's just forget it ok? I thought you could do some of that voodoo reading stuff and we could find a solution to our problem… together." Silence. At first he thought it was because she was thinking about what he said, but soon he realized that she had completely done the opposite. She was ignoring him!

"Levy…" he reached out to touch her shoulder again.

"Gajeel! Can't you see I'm busy?" she snapped, finally looking up to glare at him. Yes, this time he was sure he saw something, but it was gone almost instantly. Levy looked surprised at herself and immediately apologized.

"Oh, I'm sorry Gajeel, I'm so sorry I didn't mean… I just…" She sighed as if her research was catching up with her. She ran her fingers through her hair and Gajeel noted they shook slightly. "I think maybe I've been at this a bit too long." She began to stand up and faltered. Gajeel quickly swept her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"It's okay. We're both tired. How about you and I head back to your place for a bit of R&R?" he said roughly. Gajeel couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something had shifted in her in the time he was gone. Nodding slowly and with a smile she began to follow him out of the archives, but quickly pulled up short.

"Wait, why my place?" she said with laughter in her voice. There was his girl.

"Because my place is not fit for a lady of your standing," he replied mockingly.

"It's a mess, isn't it?"

"It should be condemned." Levy leaned up and ran a finger down his neck.

"Is that whisky?" She move herself closer and sniffed. Gajeel grinned as he nuzzled her nose gently.

"I had a drink or two," he admitted grudgingly.

"Well, I guess we will need to address the condemned bachelor's pad first and then your drinking habits."

Gajeel hid his smile. "By all means, Shrimp." He pulled up to his full height. "And by we, you mean you right?" Levy laughed as they continued out of the archives. For a brief moment, she looked back longingly at the books before Gajeel's persistent hold on her hand pulled her the rest of the way.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Sorry sorry! It's been a while, but I've been handicapped in my typing. Sliced off a good chunk of my middle finger with a mandolin slicer. It's put me out of commission and typing without a finger is slow going, but after you get the hang of it, it's not too horrible... Anyway, enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and all of its characters!

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Things began to deteriorate quickly and within a matter of weeks, Levy's personality had become that of a woman possessed. Whatever solid ground the newfound couple had found themselves on, was short lived as every moment Levy had was spent within the archives and few were with those she loved and cared about. Jet and Droy were feeling the separation and lamented daily that it must have been something that they had done, but Gajeel sensed it had nothing to do with anyone at the guild. Something seemed to have taken over his woman and it angered him beyond anything he had ever experienced before. But how could one get angry at the one he loved if she was not the one committing this crime of desertion? It was something that had him stumped.

The rest of the guild perhaps remained oblivious because Levy simply remained out of sight most of the time. They couldn't see the paling of her skin, the lengthening of her hair, the iridescent glow of her eyes as days passed. In fact, Gajeel only seemed to notice these things when he caught her off guard whenever he'd attempt to speak with her. Levy had been avoiding him for days, perhaps 'avoid' is not the right word, but simply 'forgotten' is more appropriate. She simply brushed him off or gave him half-hearted answers and excuses for her absence. When she did notice, her eyes would clear for a moment as she examined him, as if she had only just now noticed a new lamp in the room. And Gajeel… well… he felt… hungry.

Yes, the Hunger… Let's address this a bit. This hunger is not a result of the need to fill the stomach or quench a craving for food; it is a manifestation of the desire to conquer and control. One could say that many great leaders of the past had a similar type of hunger where they saw a vision of what they wanted and nursed a hunger for it that was so deep and so depraved that many died in order to staunch it. Now, take that hunger and multiply it by a thousand, then add a physical point of focus for that hunger (i.e. Levy), then input the power of a dragon. In one giant melting pot where physical satisfaction would never be enough and there is no outlet for the energy being compounded within a single entity, it all boils and churns, ready to explode forth with irreversible consequences. All of this could only be given such a modest word as the Hunger.

The great mystery is, how does one stifle the Hunger? For so great a force would need something lasting, binding, and forever a mark of subjugation. Dragons were known to have a higher understanding of the working world and able to cut through the daily clutter of greed, self-satisfaction, and short-sighted desires. Perhaps if Levy had been of sound mind she would be able to find her answer to their problem. But it seemed that she was no longer concerned at all with the topic and nor did she seem to see the ever-increasing discontent in Gajeel. His growing concern for her was only recently being eclipsed by something much darker and he was doing a standup job of hiding it from everyone else.

Pantherlily did not know how to put his finger on it, but the way that Gajeel was acting was peculiar as of late. For some reason the man sat under a tree, regardless of weather, brooding with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. It was as if he was straining with every fiber of his being to think of something and no one knew what it was, including the iron dragon slayer. What no one realized was that it wasn't thoughts that produced such a pose, but restraint. The iron-studded man was finding it harder and harder to keep himself from unleashing his malice on others, because that is into which his despondency had morphed. The unfortunate exceed made the mistake of approaching Gajeel once already and had nearly lost a wing. The man was beyond irritable and had crossed over into a realm of unfathomable darkness. His eyes were not a dull red, but blazing embers.

"Get… AWAY… from me!" It was the only thing Gajeel managed to clench out before disappearing into the surrounding foliage. That was two days ago and still there was no sign of him. Lily had gone from one member to another trying to find out if they had any other strange encounters. Natsu and his team was out again on yet another mission, Droy and Jet had moved hardly at all from their table in the middle of the guild hall, waiting for Levy to come out of the archives. Lily sensed that the only person who would know anything about his partner's strange behavior would be the blue-haired solid script mage. He hesitated in going to see her though. She had been dubbed the archive ghost, as she never seemed to leave the place now, always mumbling words no one seemed to understand. He knew Master Makarov was worried about the girl, but it was as if everyone was immobilized with uncertainty. Something was most definitely wrong, but no one could lay a finger on it.

Someone had to find some answers and Lily came to the conclusion that it would have to be him. Tightening his proverbial belt, Pantherlily strutted his way towards the archive, light barely seeping its way from beneath the closed door. He knew that it wasn't dangerous speaking to Levy, she was such a good natured girl, but nonetheless, he felt unsettled with the quickening heartbeat and a slow trickle of anxiety running its way up his spine, setting his fur on edge. Very carefully, he pushed the door open and entered, walking in to peer around the corner. His eyes widened with what he saw.

There sat Levy huddled intensely over multiple manuscripts. She was in a frenzy, pushing and pulling papers, scribbling on others. Her breath was coming out in deep huffs and even once he thought he heard slight hiss coming out of her. He could not see her face, but he felt he did not wish to see it. The air almost felt like it was glowing and was thick with the smell of sweat and something frighteningly poignant. It choked the senses and made him want to run for the door. He swallowed and took a deep breath, stepping from behind the corner. He coughed gently into paw and saw no change. He edged around the sides of the shelves, trying to get a look at her from the side. So absorbed in his task, he missed the pen resting forlornly on the floor. He was painfully aware of it once it rolled out from under his foot, sending him backwards into the shelf and quite effectively bringing it down. The crash palpitated throughout the room breaking whatever rhythm in which Levy seemed to be entangled.

All movement stopped and the room seemed as if it shrank in on itself. Slowly, her head came up and turned to look at him. Pantherlily's eyes widened in horror. Levy's face… it was her, but… The cheeks and eyes seemed sunken in from lack of nutrition. The hair was flying of its own will in all directions, haloing around her pale complexion. Her mouth was hanging open, not even acknowledging that a small string of drool was snaking out. The most shocking thing was her eyes. They were wide in a silent, hollow scream; the irises were dilated into two dark pits surrounded by a thin line of blazing blue.

"Levy?" his eyes narrowed in disbelief. He didn't have time to react. It was amazing that her eyes could get any wider but they did as a wall of energy slammed into the vulnerable exceed, effectively forcing him into darkness.

Very slowly, Levy stood as the voices from before began to fill the room, whispering in their ancient tongue over and over again. _Na'aku et venci gorrumdi. Na'aku et venci gorrumdi. Na'aku et venci gorrumdi. _Louder and louder it rang through her head. Her hands shook, rising up to cover her ears, attempting unsuccessfully to block out the intrusive chant.

"I know," she whimpered. "I know… please just… just stop…" Louder and louder they grew. Finally Levy's head flew back as something inside of her shattered. "SILENCE!" The voices stopped. A smile eerily spread across Levy's face. A face that had only moments before been sallow and tired was filling in with new life and vibrancy. "I know," she repeated now calmly. "You are hungry. And so we shall feed once again." Blue eyes flashed brightly before fading away into dormancy.

Droy and Jet were more than thrilled with seeing Levy reemerge from the archive. They had begun to wonder if something was seriously wrong and, only moments before she appeared, whether or not they should intervene. So when she suggested they go on a mission for the first time in over two weeks, they were beyond ecstatic. They jumped on the chance to be with her again without even asking about the nature of the mission. It wasn't until Magnolia had long since faded from view that Droy began to good-naturedly question at Levy.

"So, Levy, what have you been doing down in the archives all this time?" They were in the middle of a road that was headed out of the East Forest towards the mountains, a region that was rarely traveled. She smiled sweetly and simply shrugged before subtly picking up her speed.

"Boring stuff, nothing of major importance." Droy was nonplused by the strange answer. Levy always sought out every opportunity to shower others with new things she had learned. Sometimes it got overwhelming for the average listener, but her partners knew how excited she got whenever someone turned a willing ear towards her. Droy and Jet glanced at one another as an uneasy feeling began to creep its way in. Jet slowed a little.

"Say, Levy, what else can you tell us about this mission? All you said was that it was off in the mountains, but hardly anyone lives in that area anymore."

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see anything on the request board in this area and I don't think you checked out with Mirajane before we left either," added Droy cautiously. Levy stopped walking as her companions stiffened in apprehension. Slowly, she turned to face them, but they were greeted with her usual smile.

"I already had spoken to Mira before we left. Sorry, I should have filled you in more beforehand." She turned and continued to walk as she explained more about the mission. Droy and Jet saw there was little excuse not to follow. "There is supposedly some ancient ruins hidden away in the mountains and a friend of mine who also shares an interest in linguistics personally sent me a request to look into some of the writing inside one of the temples. I'm sorry I'm dragging you along all the way for something so small, but it's just we hadn't gotten to spend much time together lately and I thought it'd be a good chance to catch up." She stopped and smiled again sweetly over her shoulder.

Droy visibly relaxed and returned her smile as he began to prattle on and on about whatever had occurred over the last several weeks that she had missed. Jet was less willing to let this unsettled feeling go as he stared intensely at Levy's back. Something just wasn't right here.

* * *

A/N: This is just setting things up. Typing is taking three times longer so hopefully I can get another chapter up soon-ish... (^_^') Thanks for all of your support and patience!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Since my finger will be healing for, apparently, weeks, my chapters will be short I'm afraid. Thanks for your patience!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's

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They must have travelled for at least a day, stopping only briefly to eat and rest. Jet took note of the very small amount that the solid script mage consumed; instead she looked off in the distance. It was as if she was anxiously awaiting something. At one point, he surprised her by dropping a heavy hand on her shoulder, requesting that they stop for the night. A blue light instantly faded from her eyes. She was pushing really hard, the ruins weren't going anywhere. Of course, she had easily agreed and immediately set about gathering firewood for camp. She said little.

Jet's uneasiness grew the next day as they drew closer to their destination. She seemed to drop all pretenses in trying to converse with her teammates and looked only forward to finding their objective. He watched her carefully as she moved from one landmark to another, not trying to find a hidden path, but acting as though she was one coming home. She maneuvered the crevices and questionable edges to deep gullies with a practiced ease. It had become quite apparent at this time to Jet that Levy already knew this place very well. At the top of a small dip of terrain, she suddenly burst forward with incredible speed towards a rock face that climbed up hundreds of feet. She grinned like a little girl as she frantically ran her fingers over the surrounding rocks and surfaces. Droy was about to ask what had gotten into her, when she let out a victorious cry. Her finger found a latch and upon pulling it, she whispered out an incantation; the latch gave with some protest. Suddenly rumbling could be felt in the ground as the entire rock face began to split open. Droy and Jet lost their footing as a huge cavern began to open up in front of them. Levy didn't wait for the doors to finish before plummeting into the darkness.

"Levy!" cried her teammates. They ran after her as well, but quickly tripped over one another in their haste, inevitably placing them in a tangled pile of limbs. Jet rubbed his head as he looked up and saw that the large cavern began to light up from a source unseen. It was dim, but enough to see that a deep pit sat below them as a causeway seemed to stretch out before them. There, near the end, Levy was already walking calmly towards an altar on a large swath of rounded rock at least a hundred feet in diameter, resting up against the cavern wall, illuminated by a hole in the top of the cavern. Sunlight streamed in, bathing three boulders lined in a semi-circle around a small platform. Jet and Droy scrambled tried to catch up and it took them several moments to arrive at the altar.

The platform was covered in a large pictogram of markings and writing that had long since been forgotten. Levy crouched down and lovingly ran her fingers around a large circle that encompassed the entire platform. She tilted her head one way and then another before standing to examine the boulders. Jet noted that they were no ordinary rocks, but each had a human face carved into the top, one portraying anger, another sadness, and the last a twisted smile. Levy approached one after another and dragged her fingers across the features, tracing them as if comforting a pet upon coming home.

"What is this?" The odd moment was interrupted as Droy was the first to approach. Levy withdrew her hand as if stirring herself from a daydream. Smiling congenially, she made her way back to the platform and slowly placed one foot on it as the blue flared to life and began to pulsate from her eyes.

"A place where life meets its end," she said cryptically as she brought her other foot up to the platform.

"Levy, I don't underst…"

"Droy! Get back that's not Levy!" Jet cried out in warning, but it was too late. The petite woman stood centered on the platform and raised both arms as a slew of chants erupted from her lips, rising up through the opening above them. A wind shot forward and blasted Droy into a nearby boulder, knocking him unconscious. Other shards of loose rock flew up into the air straight at Jet, making little patterned cuts as they sped past. All he could do was stand in a stunned state, watching as his beloved Levy finally faced him. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and her hair had turned white. A magic aura encompassed her as her clothes were discarded for a matching white dress.

"Levy…" She did not say a word, but instead raised her hand slowly. Apparently, talk was no longer necessary. Jet braced himself as her palm flipped forward and a blue ray of light plummeted towards him. It was his speed that saved him. Ducking down, he scooped up his fallen comrade and backed his way down the causeway, careful not to get too close to the edge. Options were scarce and Jet made a fast decision. She was not going to let them out alive unless he escaped first. Gearing up in full speed, he made a break for it, toting Droy along. He had to get out those doors before… His fears were realized as they slowly began to reclose before his very eyes. No! He had to make it! He had to find help!

Levy smiled in amusement.

"Oh no you don't. You're not getting away that easily. My lords are hungry" With a twitch of her fingers more jagged rocks levitated into the air, turning their sharp points towards Jet's retreating back. She flicked her wrist and they were released, honing in on their target.

Jet felt the slicing and tearing of flesh as he only had a few more steps to go. He knew Droy wasn't going unscathed as well. The rock face's door was now becoming more of a sliver, only moments away from sealing them in forever. They couldn't stay here. That was not Levy. That was NOT Levy! Whatever it was, it was intent on killing them. Knowing his ability to make it through those doors would determine whether they lived or died, Jet was given the extra push he needed to squeeze through the tiny opening that had once been a gaping doorway. The rocks met with a loud thud.

Levy stood at the center of the platform still, hands hanging limply at her sides now. Slowly, she turned back to the boulders and smiled crookedly. The familiar voices rose up through the void as the heads suddenly began to roll and contort, moving so that they may be heard.

_"Na'aku et venci gorrumdi."_ They announced persistently. Instead of weeping as before, Levy's sharp gaze pierced into each face.

"I know you are hungry! Leave be and we shall feed once again!" she growled irreverently to her lords. The voices went silent.

"It has been over two hundred years since last we tasted a life force. Feed us so that we may once again walk this land," they said in unison.

"Soon enough, my lords. Did you not pick this vessel for this purpose?" she said as she gazed lovingly at her body. "Was this girl not chosen to be your Trinity Maiden in order to serve you?"

"We must create the Nova Link soon. Time is of the essence." Levy smiled again.

"Of course, why do you think I brought those two clowns? They will send to us a feast well worth waiting for… the Dragon Slayers!" The voices erupted into raucous laughter as their anticipation grew. Yes it would be quite a feast indeed.

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A/N: Yay! I've come full round! I can finally start work on my _Poking a Sleeping Dragon _story again! With a few delays but still... \(^o^)/


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Sorry, forgot to post this with the last chapter, so it's even shorter than all of the rest!

DISCLAIMER: Same old... Hiro Mashima's characters.

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Gajeel had made a grave error. In a misguided attempt to avoid the unavoidable, he fled the guild, putting as much distance as possible between him and Levy. His worries over her physical welfare overcame the need to root out the strange behavior she had suddenly acquired. An oddly behaving Levy was better than a dead one, at least that was his logic at the time. His rather close brush with Pantherlily was the final push he needed to send him catapulting out of Magnolia. However, by leaving her side the Hunger only grew worse by sinking its fangs and claws into him. He struggled gloriously but as time moved forward, the struggles became weaker and weaker until finally, all that was left was a hunched figure with only one goal on his mind; find his mate. He would have her even if it meant breaking her legs to keep her from ever leaving him. The thought produced a perverse smile every time it came to him and in fact, it was what kept him scouring the mountains for days. Her scent was strongest along the footpaths leading away from the guild. Gajeel had only noticed it as he returned to the outskirts of Magnolia, calculating the fastest way to the petite woman. In a moment of bestial contemplation a subtle whiff of her scent danced its way under his nose.

The scent was altered in some way, but it was definitely her. With hunched shoulders and a spark that made his eyes glow blood red, he set out to run down his prey. This was his mission, to make her his no matter what cost and no matter who stood in his way, or in this case… _what_ stood in his way.

The damn mountains were nothing but a giant labyrinth, one designed specifically to boggle the senses and turn everything around on itself. After spending an entire day in a near crazed state, Gajeel was about to rip out his hair in frustration, that is until a different smell came to him. It wafted in on a small breeze and it immediately made his throat go dry. It wasn't her… It couldn't be…

He vaulted over an outcrop of stones before pivoting around a near invisible corner. He hurled himself headlong down one crumbling path after another. The smell was getting stronger, thicker. No, it wasn't her. Closer, closer, harder, faster, the urgency barreled him forward without a clue as in to where he was going. The haze of that the Hunger had set upon him was dissipating as his mind felt clearer than it had in days. It subsided only long enough for him to feel that terrible fear looming over him, dumping out the contents of its martini over his head. It wasn't her!

With a final leap, he cleared a boulder, landing on a barely visible pathway and he froze. No more than twenty feet ahead, he saw two crumbled bodies, fallen along the side of the path. He recognized the clothes and smell. Slowly he approached, scanning frantically the landscape for any indication that she was with them. It couldn't have taken more than a few seconds to reach them, but to him it felt like an endless night. Finally, he stood over one which he knew to be Jet. Very slowly and with little decorum, he used the toe of his boot to nudge the unconscious mage in the shoulder. He didn't move.

"Oi," said Gajeel loudly. He wanted answers and he wasn't one much with patience in these situations. He nudged him again. "Oi, Jet." Jet winced, his eyes squinting against the sunlight.

"G-Gajeel," he groaned as he attempted to move his body. "W-where am I?" It all came flooding back to him. "Levy!" He twisted around to try to find her, but immediately regretted such a fast movement.

"Where is she?" Jet let his upper body fall limply back to the ground as he tried to muster the energy to respond. He had been bleeding all the way up to this point and they still had not managed to reach the edge of the mountain range. He had eventually collapsed from sheer exhaustion. "Oi, Jet!" Gajeel growled more persistently. The man was going to fall back into the void.

"In the cave… up the mountain…" he winced. Even the difficult task of speaking was draining him. "She… she's not Levy, I mean she is but…" his eyes fell sideways trying to get a better look at his injured teammate. He was still breathing. With a sigh of relief, he turned back to Gajeel. "Something has possessed her. She turned on us…" Gajeel turned his back, clearly intent on leaving them there.

"Wait!" Jet reached up towards him. "Please, you've gotta help us. We can't go any further." Gajeel didn't turn towards him in the least as the Hunger fell back in upon him. He needed to get the hell out of there before he made minced pies out of them!

"You are members of Fairy Tail. Find your strength, if not for you, but for your nakama." With that, Gajeel took off at a dead sprint. Hunt, hunt, hunt… Find her!

Jet at first was furious with the iron dragon slayer. How dare he even call himself a nakama of Fairy Tail! But then upon further review, Gajeel's words spun around and revealed new meaning. Perhaps he hadn't meant it to snub him, but encourage him. He _was_ a Fair Tail mage and they were notorious for their stubborn drive and ability to overcome the odds. Gajeel didn't throw him to the dogs, he was entrusting him with a task. Get back to Fairy Tail, find help. It was an undertaking that fatigue had beaten out of him up until where he had fallen, but now with a clear mind and a new burst of determination, Jet slowly rolled over to his stomach, gasping against the pain. Gritting his teeth he somehow managed to get his knees underneath him. Another, burst of pain and with the pain came his motivation to move… move damn you!

His fists clenched together as blood seeped from wounds reopened. His mouth hung open as sweat began to fall from him in droves. Purposely and without hesitation, he grabbed hold of Droy's arm and foisted it across his back while quickly wrapping his other arm around the waist for support.

"Come on, my friend. We have a mission to complete."

"I'm with you all the way." Jet looked at him in surprise, thinking he was still unconscious from the blood loss. Droy smiled weakly as his head hung low, unable to hold it higher. "Let's go save Levy…"

The two took a breath and began their journey. Only at the base of the mountain would Droy insist that he be left behind, allowing Jet to use his last reserve for the run back to the guild. Jet didn't know if Droy would survive but they were both determined to accomplish what they had set out to do. Get help and save Levy.

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A/N: Please R&R!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Merging the stories might be a bit tricky from here on out. We'll see how I manage it! Thanks for all of the support!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima made Fairy Tail and its characters.

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Gajeel was beyond livid. He didn't know at who or what, but everything pissed him off. His mate was nowhere closer than he had started out. Stupid Jet! Didn't know how to give proper instructions… If he had been a little more logical at that moment, he might have realized he had not really asked for specifics at the time. It didn't matter though because her scent was driving him mad. It was everywhere yet nowhere and therefore completely untraceable. Where was she? Where? She was so close, but he couldn't find her. It was complete hell and his worst nightmare. She was forever outside his grasp and no matter how desperately he searched for her, she eluded him.

Grunts of anger and frustration grew louder as the first day passed, then another. By the third day he was beyond reasoning. Rocks became his enemy, the air whipped around, distorting the traces he got of her. Madness set in and his boiling point was exceeded.

"LEEEEVY!"

Deep inside her cavern, Levy was preparing for the battle ahead. She meditated quietly, face raised towards the moonlight that was streaming in through the cavern's roof. Slowly, her arms raised up in the arc of an angel as a smile spread across her lips in a zen-like motion. She inhaled slowly, deeply before dropping her chin back to level. Blue eyes opened with a frightening focus.

"He's here," she whispered. The voices erupted into a cacophony of chatter. An arm swung up in a demand for silence only to point its finger at the entrance of her fortress. The doors rumbled in protest, but finally gave to her command as fresh mountain air flooded the cavern. "Come to me, Gajeel Redfox. Levy is waiting," she said cryptically.

Gajeel had felt the low vibrations running through the ground as if fleeing from some terrible force. It was her! It had to be her because the scent had taken on a potency he had not inhaled in ages. Forgetting anything else, he sped headlong for the source, striving to move faster. He lost remnants of any human movements and adapted the quick leaps and bounds of a beast unleashed from a cage. He felt the scales pushing against the surface of his skin as the dragon threatened to consume him and he welcomed it with a fanged grin. She was HIS!

With a victory growl, he burst through the doorway only to stop at the mouth, staring at the otherworldly figure at the end of the path, drenched in her moonlight. He had to admit, his mate struck quite an alluring pose. It was tasty. Silence enveloped the air as everything suddenly leapt into movement.

Not a sound erupted as Gajeel sped headlong down the path towards his goal, the one he sought for so long. The energy she shot forth burst and destroyed whatever it touched, missing him by mere millimeters. He didn't even flinch as his smile grew upon drawing closer. Blood red eyes stared into bright blue ones. Using two hands, Levy let loose another round of blue light, nearly taking off Gajeel's head. With ease, he flipped into the air. More silence. He was almost upon her. Rolling to the side, he leapt from one boulder lining the pathway to the other; always within a hair's breathe of plummeting down below. He might as well have been only a few feet above solid ground, not a bottomless pit.

There! He made it! He leapt at her with his claws extended, teeth baring down on her. Levy's arm raised up as time slowed. He grew closer and closer, blood was his intent. She would never leave him again. He would subjugate her and bring her home. Just as his claws grazed her cheek, her hand shot forward and grasped him around the throat. He was frozen in shock. With one arm, she had single-handedly stopped a dragon's attack. She held him aloft, staring up into his face. Gajeel was still lost in his storm of instincts, but one thing struck home. The tears. He saw them streaming slowly down both sides of her face in stark contrast to the look of deadly intent.

The silence was shattered with the following explosion and burst of chants that filled the cavern.

_"Gorrumdi no et na'aku venci! Cuane fon alanpak tu ve! Mut mor noram do nova grrrrra!" _Gajeel's scream rang throughout the cavern only to be engulfed and surpassed by the chants. _Empty no longer are our stomachs! Come forth to us your life force! Maiden bring the Nova link!_

"Aaaaargh!" the pain was excruciating as he was unable to catch his breath. It was as if the very air around him was being sucked away and along with it went his energy and magic. It was a bottomless hunger that pulled at all of it and he fought magnificently against the hand that gripped him. Somehow he continued to fight desperately, now simply for his very survival. He looked down through his pain, the blood red eyes faded to their original rust as he reached up with his fingers. They spasmed violently as he brought them to the small cut that was bleeding down her cheek. Gently, he wiped the blood away. The tears down her cheeks increased. The maiden's mouth moved involuntarily.

"G-Gajeel…" he was suddenly released from her grip, crumbling into a pile at her feet. The maiden threw her arms up, clutching at her head. Her scream ripped through the air, piercing Gajeel to his heart. It was the most terrible sound he had ever heard and all he could manage was to fall backwards off of the platform, resting his back against a nearby fallen rock, watching as his love fought with herself. She curled over as if in extreme pain. Only for a moment was she able to look at her dragon lover.

"R-Run, Gajeel…" She flinched. "RUN!" Another scream rendered her unable to finish. Just as abruptly, the scream died out. Levy's face contorted into a vicious smile.

"My my, she does have some spunk doesn't she?" Gajeel heaved where he lay, staring hatefully at the being that had taken over Levy's body as she approached him with cat-like movements. "Oh, don't look at me like that," she said jovially as she squatted down next to him, running a finger along his chin. He jerked away from her, feeling the evil rolling off of her. "This girl was hard to come by. She's smart, she has a well-built soul, and she's strong. Why do you think I'm referred to as the Trinity Maiden?" It was obvious Gajeel could care less. With the sudden loss of his energy so had his overwhelming instincts that had overtaken him disappeared into that terrible void. He was thinking clearly finally for the first time in weeks.

"Let Levy go," he growled.

"Oh, now you can tell why I can't do that, can't you? Her life force is so tasty! It's the perfect channel for everyone else's too. And now, thanks to you, I have enough energy to move on to the next step." The iron dragon slayer's breathing was labored as he stared helplessly as she turned back to her platform. "What's the next step, you might ask? Well here, my dear man, let me show you."

Her white hair slowly rose up, as if gravity stood no chance against her. Then her feet left the ground as she slowly floated upward, laughing up at the moon.

"We shall feast upon this world once again," she said throatily. Gajeel was momentarily blinded as the moon's light increased a hundred fold. The chanting was unbearably loud now. Blue script snaked its way upward through the portal of light, converging into a single point, building, gathering and finally peaking. At the acme of the energy influx it burst forth through the cavern's opening bursting over the landscape and spreading to the far reaches of the horizon. Seconds went by of nothingness then suddenly came the first moan, followed by another and then another, until the room was filled with the chorus of pain and suffering found from those whose souls were ripped from them in their sleep.

Levy laughed as though in pleasure as the three boulders behind her began to glow a hazy blue.

"Yes, more! I need more!" Pausing in her pleasure quest she turned back to Gajeel and smiled perversely and licked her lips. "I'll be back for seconds from you, my good man. You are a tasty treat. But first, I must drain this town of its life force." Gajeel's eyes widened. She was killing a town! An entire population in just a brief moment, she was wiping it from existence. And she was doing it with Levy's body, and Levy's voice, and Levy's smile! Rage poured into him, roiling and twisting into something he had never experienced before. His move to attack the maiden once again was stopped as the sounds of footfalls echoed across the cavern. Slowly, he turned his weakened head back towards the entrance and his eyes widened. There stood, the strongest team of Fairy Tail. Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Lucy… oh and Happy too.

Levy smiled seductively as she lowered her arms and body back to the platform, the wail's stopping immediately.

"Ah, it looks like my main course has arrived," she said hungrily.

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A/N: Short, but hope it got the juices going for a good fight! Here comes the fun part!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: For the other side of the battle scene, please refer to _Poking a Sleeping Dragon. _Also, the Fairy Tail wiki hopefully can fill you in on any attack moves that have you confused. Hopefully it won't matter too much though. Thanks guys for sticking with me so far!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's

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Gajeel had never been so glad and yet so upset at the same time in seeing his fellow nakama before. Reinforcements had arrived but those nakama were here to handle a threat and that threat was Levy. Despite this conflict of interest, Gajeel was banking on the fact that they were just as reluctant as he was to deal heavy handedly with Levy. It was a pivotal moment and yet here he was fading in and out of consciousness. Every moment was spent trying to stay alert from one to the next. He couldn't let them hurt her. He was striving to convince his body to move so that he could get to them to explain that Levy was still in there, she was desperately trying to survive somewhere inside that monster.

Through the haze Gajeel saw them attacking her all at once and he felt his heart turn to stone and subsequently plummet to the bottom of his stomach. He knew they didn't have a choice. It was either kill or be killed but that still didn't prevent the primal anger that rose up in him, knowing someone was attacking what was his. Time slowed as the attacks kicked up dirt and dust, enveloping Levy in a cloud of debris. He croaked out her name, but no one seemed to hear him as rocks collided and skittered around trying to find a resting place. Shockingly, she was unscathed and that was when the gravity of their situation fell in on him.

There was a very good chance that they would have to seriously harm or kill Levy if she was this powerful. It was a nightmare where he was stuck in the mire of his dream, unable to do anything as his nakama and the love of his life clashed. Within a blink of an eye, Gray was the first to fall, his shield unable to keep out the tendrils of magic that snaked its way in, sucking his life force from him. As far as Gajeel knew, the poor man was dead. There was a cease fire as Lucy ran to her fallen teammate to check on him. Judging from the body language, she was relieved to see that he was alive. Gajeel also let out a breath he had not realized he was holding. Levy would never forgive herself if she ever brought about the end of a nakama's life.

Then before he could even follow their movements Levy was flying, going toe to toe with the Titania. It was surreal watching such a petite woman take on another equipped with such incredible armor and battle skills, but they seemed to be on equal terms, at least that's what he thought at first. Gajeel forced his eyes to focus on Levy and in that second he knew it was a trap.

"Erza!" he tried to scream, it only came out as a pathetic croak as it was too late. The sword pierced her through the back, emerging on the other side. The great Titania had fallen. She fell to the ground, not far from the boulders, a look of frozen shock plastered to her face. Natsu sped in checking her over and finding no wounds on her. Turning, he yelled is rage at Levy.

"What did you do to her?!"

"I simply created a channel for her life force to seep out. My lords will feast on it shortly."

Gajeel was torn because he knew that Natsu would not sit back idly and let it go unpunished and this made it even more urgent for him to get his legs underneath him, but damn if they wouldn't listen to him. His eyes stared at them, bidding them to move. His efforts were interrupted as the first whisper of voices flitted past his ear, then another and another. The voices were talking again and from his previous experience that was a bad thing. Move damn you! His head frantically flew back and forth from his legs to Levy. Her attention was suddenly now on Lucy, pulling the blonde closer for inspection. Snippets of words came to him. 'Next vessel.' With effort he honed in on their words.

"And what makes you think I'll do that?" Lucy said disdainfully.

"Because if you become my vessel, I'll have no other choice but to let this girl go," Levy ran a hand down the length of her own body. "Pity though, it was so nice while it lasted." She winked at him and all he could feel was bile rise up into his throat. It's true, in the few times they had made love after that first night, she had seemed rather off, but he had been so far gone with controlling his instincts he hadn't taken any of it into account. He couldn't let this thing do this to them, he couldn't! He forced his frustration and anger through his upper body and all he could really manage was to pull himself a measly inch or two away from the place in which he rested.

"Stay," ordered Levy. Her magic forcing him back down. "Good boy." She turned back to Lucy. "Besides, I have been a bit rough on this Levy girl. I don't think I've fed her body in days!" She laughed and Gajeel, if it were possible, wanted to rip her to shreds. If Levy weren't tucked away somewhere in there he would have done just that, he was sure of it. "It's a wonder it hasn't crumbled yet!" Yep, he was positive, she would have been a dead woman.

"Release Levy!" Lucy demanded angrily.

"Of course, but in exchange for you."

"Lucy! Don't… Argh!" Levy threw him into the ground, keeping him silent. Then came Bunny-girl's reply. 'Fine.' Gajeel felt his nails draw blood as he clenched his fists together, still persistently snaking his way closer. There had to be something he could do, anything! This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. The haze was pressing in on his vision but he fought it off as he watched in horror as Lucy's body was levitated into the air, circling, circling. Her air turned white and the eyes… as blue as Levy's had been. His little bookworm collapsed moments later and gods knew, he tried to be there when she fell.

"Levy," he whispered, shaking her. On further inspection he felt his eyes sting as he took in her sunken cheeks and emaciated figure. Damn them… damn them all to hell! His hands clutched at her shoulders, his thumb rubbed small circles over her cheek. Wake up, why wasn't she waking up? His attention was only briefly broken as Lucy stepped into his line of vision.

"Ah, this is so much better! I feel it! The life source is immense in this one! Though, I might be in need of a feeding again…" It was true, that transference probably cost a lot of valuable energy. Gajeel noted that now would be the time to strike before she took another innocent's life force.

"Lucy!" Gajeel could hear Natsu running towards them and he jerked his head around in time to see his fiery counterpart freeze.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Something bad might happen to your precious Lucy." Lucy drew a little bloody line down her throat. Guilt actually stepped into the limelight this time, not fear. Why? Because Gajeel was happy. He was so fucking happy that it wasn't Levy, his Levy. Gods forgive him, but he was glad it was anyone else but Levy.

"Gajeel." His name brought his guilt fest to a premature end. "Get Levy to the entrance." He did not appreciate the orders that Natsu was flinging around and had it been any other situation he might have told him to take his order and eat it. Levy shifted in his arms. But this wasn't one of those times. Gently, he cradled her and found the strength that had previously so stubbornly stayed dormant. She was so light and it nearly broke him there. It was never pleasant to see a loved one in that condition, ever.

Behind him, he could hear the continuation of hand-to-hand combat as Natsu took on his partner and lover. Once again, thank the gods it wasn't him.

"Karyu no Hoko!" The familiar rise in temperature ensued and Gajeel picked up his speed. He had to get her to safety. He would deal with the rest later, but first he wanted her safe. He wanted her alive and safe. It took priority over anything else. His main focus did not prevent him from following the battle behind him however. Natsu was getting pummeled because he was refusing to lay a fist or kick on Lucy.

"You'll never beat me!" boasted Lucy. "Just stay down and let me eat your life force. I promise to make it quick." The thought of Lucy bearing what Levy would inevitably have to bear, knowing she was responsible for killing another human being, an entire town. He couldn't let it go any further. It was not a sin that should be shared. In a way, he felt like it was his fault for not having been there to stop Levy in the first place. Gently, he settled Levy down up against the entrance wall and began to turn back to the fight when her small hand gripped his arm. Stunned, he turned back to her. She smiled at him, truly smiled and he hadn't realized until that moment how much he had missed it.

"Levy…"

"G-Gajeel, save… Lucy…" she winced. He smiled back at her, trying to give her some form of comfort.

"Do you even need to ask, Shrimp?"

"Gajeel…"

"Yeah?"

"I love you…" That knife pierced his heart and twisted.

"I love you too, Levy." Not wanting any further mushiness coming out of the woodworks, Gajeel turned and forced his legs to carry him back to the now downed fire dragon slayer. He definitely had seen better days.

"Get up," Gajeel ordered, not taking his eyes off of Lucy as a precaution. She seemed slightly pleased that he was back for more. "I don't like this version of Bunny-girl." There was that guilt again. In contrast to its martini-carrying counterpart, Fear, this guy carried a whiskey and a grin. Gajeel was not a fan of either of them.

"Gajeel, how…" started Natsu. The iron dragon slayer wrinkled his nose in distaste. He didn't like to explain his actions, much less his feelings.

"She gave me back my Levy." There, that should do it. Enough talk, more action. That was the way Gajeel liked to deal with things. Slowly, feeling the comfort of knowing that Levy was safely stashed way behind him, he began to take every ounce of his magic he had left and pool them into his hands. This would be his moment to rid himself of that whisky-ass guilt. He barely acknowledged Natsu's presence as he stood up, obviously in pain.

"We're bringing home our nakama. All of them," Natsu managed to clench out. Gajeel mentally nodded and agreed. Yes every damn one of them. He glanced past Lucy and saw the first movement of Erza as she shifted her lower body into a kneeling position. It was amazing she was even able to move. It had taken him much longer to be able to even roll his head.

"Fairy Tail never leaves their own behind, they never stop fighting. They never give up." It was meant to be his rallying call as his eyes darted to Gray and Happy. They were also showing signs of movement. Erza was the first to respond to it.

"Even with the odds stacked against us, we overcome our enemies." Good for her, she was now standing and leaning heavily on her sword. It was already apparent that it was taking everything she had to get that far. Hell, her life force was draining from her as she stood. That was much different from a simple flesh wound. It ripped at the muscles and mind simultaneously, debilitating all of the senses and stopping all movement. He should know, he was fighting it now as well.

"We are stubborn and once you piss us off, there's nowhere to hide because we will chase you down until the end of time." Gajeel didn't even glance at Gray or Happy as they attached themselves to Lucy's legs, holding her in place. In that moment, he glanced over at Natsu and then at the platform with its three creepy boulders. The pink head of hair nodded ever so slightly, message received. Natsu turned and licked his lips.

"Lucy, you can't stay like that any longer. Come back to Fairy Tail. Come back to me." Any other moment Gajeel would have teased the man mercilessly, but now was not the appropriate time, even he knew that. Despite the sappiness of what Natsu had spoken it seemed to work. Lucy howled and grabbed either side of her head as if fighting an inner battle.

"No! We had a deal! You can't come out now!" Lucy looked up and smiled cryptically. "Fine, if that's the way you want it, then I'll take your dragon as payment." Chanting filled the air as she began to whisper her spells. It amazed Gajeel to see the blue script floating lithely through the air, heading directly towards Natsu. He attempted to warn the other to avoid it, or at least defend himself, but what the fire dragon slayer did next shocked everyone there. He opened his mouth and took in the script, eating it as though it were fire, despite his teammates' protests.

Against the odds, he ate it all, absorbed it fully. Gajeel could have sworn he heard his counterpart's heartbeats. The tips of his hair turned white to match Lucy's as well as the eyes. Gajeel noted that he would never like that color ever again.

"I-impossible… How did you…" Lucy was stunned.

"You're magic may be powerful, but it still comes from Lucy. Anything that comes from her I will always accept."

"Don't look down on me!" Lucy screamed shrilly. Natsu ignored her anger, letting it roll off his back.

"Gajeel, let's go." Gajeel already knew what was next. He watched as Erza lifted her sword and slammed it into the nearest boulder. It was like a starting gun at the beginning of a race. For Lucy, everything began to unwind in that moment. Gajeel gathered every last bit of energy he had, his very life would be forfeit if necessary. This was the end. He would take the whole damn mountain with him if he had to. Fortunately for everyone there, he only had to get rid of that damned boulder in the middle. Lucky them.

"Iron God Sword!" His magic blasted forth into a giant sword with the slapping together of his hands. He felt Natsu's power hit new highs as well as he performed his Exploding Flame Blade. The Titania retracted her sword one more time before burying it one final time in the boulder.

"Fairy Tail will never lose as long as we stand together!" cried Natsu.

Success! The boulders cracked, then splintered, then turned to dust, falling into piles at their feet. Gajeel felt as though his ears were going to burst in that moment as the scream that erupted from Lucy's mouth filled the hall with her agony. It actually was quite painful and damned if it didn't seem to go on forever. It took him several moments to realize that the screaming had slowly turned into some kind of crazy laughter. He felt his spirits sink. It wasn't over?!

Lucy stood in the middle of the path, laughing to the heavens.

"It's no use! We'll just keep coming back again and again, you cannot stop us! Not without the seal!" She erupted into yet another bout of grating laughter.

Levy had remained silently watching everything unfold and the moment she saw that they had figured out that the boulders should be their point of attack she breathed a sigh of relief. But she had forgotten about the seal, buried deep within her memory, somewhere… where was it.. ah! Was it that? She had researched it so long ago before that haze had sent her into a bottomless dream. Lack of sleep and food didn't help either. She had never felt this kind of hunger before. Concentrate Levy, concentrate! Everything hung in the balance based on whether or not she could remember the incantation.

Finally, it came to her, or at least part of it…

"_Cumino ve to reshlo vento k'tresh. Nova sest noto gra et vu_." Crap! That's all she remembered. What was the rest? Lucy's deadly gaze had turned on her now and her jumbled mind became utter anarchy. What was it?! Shit! She was coming this way! Suddenly, Natsu appeared from behind Lucy and snatched her up into a firm embrace. Levy felt her eyes soften at the sight and a strange calmness overtook her. "_Cumino, cumino noto Nova vero vero na'tram."_ She saw a light burst forth from the entwined lovers. She could have sworn she saw a chunk of Natsu's shirt fly off, never to be seen again. Focus!

_"Vero et nasut Nova reng vargu no'eti." _One more, there was one more! What was it?! She glanced over at Natsu and saw blood seeping from fresh wounds. She had to hurry. It was the translation of 'eternity' that she couldn't remember. She raked her memory trying to remember what it was. Suddenly it came to her. '_Aitarindi!_" With the final word, Levy fell back into darkness, praying that her efforts had finally managed to break the spell that had overtaken her for so long. Had she accounted for all of her wrongdoings? She would find out soon enough. For now, darkness was all that she found comfort in, it was all she craved, just utter silence and a place without time. She hoped just before she blacked out that everyone would make it out all right.

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A/N: Please R&R! I hope you guys were all right with the battle scene, writing two perspectives of the same thing is hard!


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Hope you all are checking in with _Poking a Sleeping Dragon_. It's all been keeping me busy with trying to keep the story lines in sync. Thanks for all of the nice comments and sticking with me so far!

**Disclaimer:**It's Hiro's not mine except for the obvious.

* * *

In her dream, Levi was home in her apartment. A feeling of overwhelming peace and calm was filling her as she gently ran her fingers over the books stacked in chaotic order throughout the rooms. Each and every one of them held a degree of affection and care unique from the others. Time was spent lovingly turning each page as she took in the words between the covers, absorbing as much as she could and with as much due respect as she could muster. In the back corner where the dust had gathered in an embarrassingly large quantity she found books that had not been read in many years. She vaguely acknowledged it was a dream so no one was there to witness the disarray she kept hidden from sight.

It was the book with gold trimming that caught her attention at first, not recalling having a book that looked quite like this one. Very gently, she pulled it from the middle of the pile, not caring that all of the books around her began to avalanche and fall away into nothingness. She no longer stood within her apartment, but she was too busy staring at the cover to notice. It held no title, no illustration on the front. It was a blank book from first glance. Her curiosity was growing, ignoring the small warning bells ringing off in the distance. The words written in the book were illegible, a first for Levy. Never had she come across text that had managed to confuse her to this degree.

Suddenly the text shifted and warped, as if seeing her dilemma and wishing only to help, but once she was finally able to read their meaning, she regretted it immediately.

_And the vessels shall become wraiths. No living being will be given quarter and the earth shall be reduced to ash, a barren land that shall not give forth fruit. Chaos burns bright. And then comes the Great Nothingness._

Levy stared with unseeing eyes at the world that was being described so cryptically. Dust clouds danced around her feet as she stared at the void in front of her. There was not a single blade of grass to stop the wind. On the ground beneath her feet something caught her eye. Slowly, she crouched to pick it up and dust off the plaque and her eyes widened in disbelief. There, in its lonely state, with no guild to call its own, was the sign for her home, Fairy Tail. Her head shot up to stare around her with new eyes. Was this… Magnolia? No… it can't be…There was nothing here! The water had all but disappeared as well leaving behind canyons where the coral had once resided. Even they too were no longer there.

Movement caught the corner of her eye, shifting in the distance, stumbling and falling. Levy broke out in a run, desperate to find another soul in the desert. Perhaps, a nakama? She drew closer, panting despite knowing it was a dream. Suddenly, she realized she recognized the blonde hair and signature outfit. Though both were incredibly faded and worse for wear, there was no doubt in her mind who it was. Lucy! She began to smile hopefully only to stop as her friend turned to face her. Lucy's mouth hung open limply in a silent scream. Her skin was drying out and eyes were sallow.

"Lucy…"

"You…" The blonde took a shaky step towards her. "You did this to us!" she shrilled, barely able to work her vocal chords at this point. Levy took a step back as if having been struck.

"N-no… that's not…"

"You brought this on us… You killed them... You killed them all!" She took another step, faltering and nearly falling to her knees. Her head fell back in a gut-wrenchingly odd angle as she stared up at Levy. "You killed my Natsu… You killed my baby!" With a howl, Lucy launched herself at Levy and all she could do was wait with her scream stuck somewhere in the back of her throat.

* * *

Levy jarred awake, finding her surroundings to be bright and unfamiliar. Someone had laid her out gently on a bed, one that was not meant necessarily for comfort. Slowly, Levy lifted her hand and placed it over her forehead and eyes. _It was a dream. It was a dream. It was only a dream._

"Gajeel, it was so strange. I dreamt that… Gajeel?" The coldness of the bed hit her. The fluorescent lights were unforgiving, leaving little to hide. She screamed as she saw several people staring at her from the other side of her clear wall imprisonment.

"We are relieved to see that you are awake, Ms. McGarden." The man who spoke was elderly, bushy eyebrows hovering over what appeared to be tightly closed eyes.

"Yajima!" Levy smiled hopefully, but froze before standing, suddenly feeling dizzy.

"Rest, dear girl. You have been through quite a lot." She pressed her hand tenderly against her head, to keep the room from spinning.

"Wh-where am I?"

"The Magic Council headquarters." Her face drained of its blood at this revelation. So it wasn't a dream, at least most of it. One of the other Council men standing nearby was growing visibly impatient, cutting into the conversation.

"You are being charged with the murder, no… more appropriate is the word 'massacre' of an entire village," he said brutally. "In addition to illegal utilization of unapproved Lost Magic." Levy's eyes widened in disbelief.

"But… it wasn't me…"

"Our sources say otherwise. Do you have anything to add to your defense?" he said coldly. The man was unforgiving in his stoic demeanor. This one was not on her side, she knew instantly. Despite his young face, his hair was silver and gray, flowing to the side in a short cut. A scar ran down his temple, deforming his left ear as was only revealed from certain angles. The eyes were also gray. Who was he?

"Hmph, I see we will not be receiving an answer now. We will give you until tomorrow morning to find one." Yajima bowed his head in disappointment as the group of Councilmen slowly began to turn as a unit, moving away from her prison.

"I'm not guilty!" Levy yelled defiantly. Cold, gray eyes turned back to stare at her over his shoulder."The magic that took over my body is responsible. I'd never hurt an innocent person, much less kill an entire town."

"You maintain that you are not guilty?" the man said with maddening calmness.

"Yes!" she barked back at him.

"Very well, we will convene for your trial tomorrow."

"B-but she just has woken up," commented Yajima. "Perhaps, we should wait until her health has regained…"

"There are families of the deceased that are demanding justice. Are you suggesting that we tell them to wait so that their loved ones' murderer may 'rest' a little? I hardly think that they would accept such a trite excuse." Levy felt her hands clench in sync with her jaw. It was true that her body had performed the ritual that had killed so many, but it wasn't her! If it was her then she had no right to live… she would be a monster! She struggled with the clash of guilt and anger at her predicament. No one had attempted to deny what the man had said was false.

"I will be back later, Ms. McGarden, to get your formal statement. Until then, I highly recommend that you regain as much health as possible. You'll be needing it," he said slyly as if at a private joke. Yajima was the only one to linger long enough to whisper words of encouragement to her before disappearing with the rest. They left her then to the horrible stillness with their henchmen toads to stand watch just outside of her prison. Memories randomly flashed into her mind, whether it was a moment of passion with Gajeel, or the feel of excitement as she tasted her first soul in centuries. Those feelings had somehow managed to merge with her own and it was driving her mad trying to create a barrier between herself and that evil ancient power.

She had never wanted it, to hurt her friends, to hurt Gajeel. And those innocent people. That spiteful man was right about one thing, the deceased should get justice, but at her expense? It was an endless dance of guilt and denial that she couldn't seem to break free from and it continued on well into the night.

That evening, she had still failed to sleep even for a moment and her bloodshot eyes seemed to show it. The approaching footsteps roused her from her staring contest with the corner of her cell. She knew right away it was not Yajima who had come to pay her a visit. In the evening the lights were turned off to allow the prisoners sleep and the entryway was lit merely by fire lacrima. Her guards bowed respectfully before leaving upon a flippant dismissal. There stood the man who sought to bring her to her knees, his silver hair gleaming in the light with the same arrogant look on his face.

"Did you not take my advice to get some rest, Miss McGarden?" he said condescendingly. Levy slowly sat up, still feeling weak. The food they had given her was a far cry from what one would deem as filling and nutritious. Ignoring the dizzying weakness in her limbs, she glared at him head on.

"What happened to my nakama?" she demanded finally.

"Ah, I see no one told you. They're all fine, every single one of them… for now…" She dropped her feet to the floor as if to leap at him despite the barrier between them. He held up his hand, commanding she stop.

"I came here not to fight, but make a deal with you," he said. She was immediately suspicious.

"What kind of deal?" She felt her blankets bunch up into her balled fists.

"One that I think you will find a fair trade," was the confident reply. He twitched two fingers at her, indicating she must move closer to him. Cautiously she did as she was signaled, but still kept several feet between her and the wall as she stood shakily before him. The fingers twitched again. She shifted her foot closer… closer… closer… His hand lashed out with surprising speed to grasp her around her neck, slipping through the clear wall as if it was made of butter, yanking her as close as it would allow. Levy clawed at the hand that was shutting off the air supply, while trying to gasp in what she could. Slowly, with a smile, he whispered into her ear and her struggles stopped, eyes widening as he quietly revealed what he sought. Just as suddenly, he released her to collapse freely to the ground, spluttering for the precious air her lungs had fought for. Despite the incessant coughing and wheezing she sent him a look that could kill.

"What… *cough* makes you think… *gasp* I would help you do _that_?" She wobbled a little as she got onto her hands and knees before heaving herself into a standing position. She would not face this wretched person from the ground, but proudly as a human being should. He smiled, amused by the spunk he saw in her.

"Because if you don't, I'll have Lucy Heartphilia brought in on the exact same charges as you. And rumor has it that she is no condition to be under such… profound stress." Levy felt as if she was going to hurl as her previous dream came slamming back into the forefront of her mind. The look on Lucy's hollowed out face, one of anger and betrayal. The fate worse than death… She swallowed hard as she found her throat had suddenly gone dry.

"You leave her out of this…"

"Oh but I will, if you but only follow a few simple requests. As I said, I believe it's a fair trade." Levy was torn. What this man demanded from her was insane, it was no more than the whims of a power-hungry monster, and he was using his position as a Council man to get what he wanted. However, the thought of Lucy and the words from her dream echoed in her mind's eye. _You killed my baby!_ She shook her head violently, trying to clear it.

"Who are you?" she finally said, wanting to know who dared to threaten her best friend and nakama. He smiled, knowing that he had won this battle.

"They call me Flint. Flint Gollumor, but you may call me simply by the name of Flin. All of my closest friends and allies call me by that name and you and I, Ms. McGarden, are going to be very close friends, I can just feel it." Levy felt yet again a feeling that was making itself quite at home in her life… helplessness.

* * *

Gajeel cursed inwardly, hell he cursed outwardly. He cursed everything from the sky and birds down to the rocks under his feet. The damn squirrels as well, they can all go to hell. Because he had failed her. In her moment of need he failed her repeatedly. Was this some kind of curse to be played over and over again like a fucking broken record? He didn't know what he was doing. The days following the incident in the Crynthian ruins had left everyone in an incredibly weakened state. The life force being sucked out of you would do that he supposed, but still, it was no excuse for letting those snakes into the guild and allowing them to waltz out of there with his Levy. Had he been at his full strength he would have stopped them without a doubt. Hell, they were barely able to stop him even though he could barely lift his arms.

_/Flashback/_

_"Get the hell offa' me!" he yelled as he was tackled from all sides by his nakama. He cursed profusely under his breath as someone's forearm shoved his face into the ground, ignoring Wendy's pleas to not hurt himself further. With inhuman strength he pushed up on both of his arms, lifting Elfman, Macao, Wakaba, and Max off of the ground, sending them flying into a nearby table. The freedom was shortlived as more of his nakama piled on. The man standing in front him with his hair pulled high up in a ponytail with his signature Knight's attire, stared down at him with authority; authority that Gajeel would have gladly spat on and shoved back in his face._

_"Levy McGarden is being held under charges of mass murder and improper use of Lost Magic. She will stay at the Magic Council Headquarters until we have completed our investigation…" The man's speech was interrupted by an eruption from Gajeel's throat. It was a roar meant to deafen anyone within earshot as it resonated off of the walls and shaking loose dust and debris from the rafters. Natsu stood over Gajeel, with his hands fisted at his side._

_"She's our nakama! You're not taking her!" Natsu said angrily. The protests went ignored as Gajeel watched helplessly as a Magic Council Knight turned to lift the delicate frame of his little bookworm onto a gurney, preparing to take her away from her home and most importantly him._

_"You can't! She's still not healed!" cried Erza. Others began to protest as well only to be cut short by a swipe of an outstretched hand by their master._

_"Please be well aware," he said with a growl at the Magic Council's Knight. "That you are taking one of my children. If a law has been broken here, we have no choice but to agree to the Council's wishes, however, you will only take her on two conditions." The Knight shifted uneasily, not really possessing the authority to agree to any terms. "One, she will be given every bit of care and medical help that she would receive here with us." Unhappy grumbling began to rise up, but he spoke over them. "Two, no harm will be paid to this young woman for if one hair is out of place by the time I get her out of there no magic in this world will save the Council from my wrath." The Knight began to visibly sweat before replying._

_"I will do my best," he managed to croak out before signaling over his shoulder for the men to move out. Two of his men lifted the gurney, joggling it enough to allow one of Levy's limp hands to fall out and sway as they carried her away. This was nightmare. An absolute nightmare, one without ending. His anger and pain all boiled down into silence, the kind of silence one hears before a massive explosion and explode he did. His roar threatened to bring down the entire guild as he struggled to go after his mate. It wasn't until someone had enough sense to pull out a sleeping lacrima to cast a spell to knock the iron dragon slayer out, that the roaring faded away._

_/End Flashback/_

Gajeel woke in the medical room, leather bands tied securely around his wrists and ankles. He looked at them in disdain before snapping them like string. Really? They thought that would be enough to stop him? Glancing at the ties and realized they were supposed to have been enchanted, but found them to have been frayed and whittled away at with a knife and he knew someone had sabotaged the attempt to keep him bound there. Judging by the hairline precision cuts, he assumed perhaps Erza might have had a hand in it.

Not letting the opportunity pass him by he was gone from the guild for over an hour before anyone stopped to notice the severed ties on the ground. He was long gone before they sent out a search party to attempt to bring him back.

This brought him round full circle to his current predicament. He found her, well sort of. Her scent had led him to the headquarters, though he had never been there before. The only problem was how the hell was he supposed to get in that monstrous fortress? Despite its cathedral-like appearance it was well guarded by security lacrima and Magic Council Knights. There was no way he was going to get in there undetected. His best bet was to lay low until nightfall and then find a way in from underground. That would be a piece of cake with his iron arm… he paused in his reckless planning to take note from a distance that there was some strange movement at the front gates. He saw a group of knights slowly escorting someone through to the outside. For a moment he thought it only wishful thinking that it was her, but he couldn't mistake the blue hair that bobbed in and out of sight between the Knights' armor.

"Levy…" he whispered. Silently, the small procession stopped long enough for Levy to turn to the leader and raise her bound hands for him to release her. Slowly the lacrima faded away as the other waved a hand over them. She gingerly rubbed her wrists as the Knights immediately turned and left her there. She looked after them only briefly before turning towards the barren road ahead. From his perch in the surrounding trees he overheard her mumbling.

"They could have at least given me a lift back to the guild," she said bitterly. Gajeel laid low for long moments, watching her draw nearer to his hiding place, not sure if this was some kind of illusion. Was it supposed to be this easy? Just as she passed under his tree, he swooped down and wrapped her up into his arms. She was stunned to say the least. She couldn't get a good look at him at first he was so busy burying his face into the crook of her neck.

"Levy…" The stunned moment passed as she finally knew… this was him, it was her Gajeel, the one she had longed to see since the moment she had woken from that horrible nightmare. Tears welled up in her eyes, ones that had refused to fall even while she awaited judgment in imprisonment. Her hands of their own accord rose up and took fists full of his shirt.

"Gajeel…" Then the sobs began to wrack her body. Just for this moment, just for a very brief moment, she allowed herself to fall and let someone else catch her.

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A/N: Please R&R! I tend to punch out more writing with encouragement. Thanks all!


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Holy cow! I am so sorry for the wait. With the holidays and writer's block it's been crazy! Hopefully you all are still interested in reading the next chapter. As always, Please R&R!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's.

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The guild was a mess when they arrived back at the entrance of Fairy Tail. From what Levy could gather, it would seem that another brawl had been set off. Somewhere in the midst, Natsu stood aloft a battered Gray while strangling Loke in a death grip. Others were laughing merrily as they downed their tankards in some form of celebration. For a brief moment she felt slightly hurt that the atmosphere could be so jovial despite her absence. Was she really unmissed by her comrades and family? The hurt was instantly replaced by apprehension as the guild went silent one member at a time. Their attention falling in upon her. Levy tried to force a wobbly smile at the corners and she reached reflexively for Gajeel's arm as he wrapped her close to his side, ready for anything.

"I'm… I'm home," she croaked out, a little surprised at the tremor in her usually vibrant voice.

"LEVY!" Jet and Droy came bounding from out of the crowd still covered head to toe in bandages and she felt the guilt raise its ugly head. She had done that to them, she had hurt her nakama. As if reading her regret, Gajeel gave her a firm squeeze before forcing her to sidestep the onslaught of affection from her team. Ignoring his attempt at keeping her to himself, Droy and Jet took another turn at grabbing hold of their returned member and mysteriously Levy was no longer there, but standing behind the iron dragon slayer. Unfortunately for the other two their arms were wrapped firmly around the stoic man's torso. The rest of the guild seemed to react all at once as they fell in on the returned members as well.

They greeted and hugged, laughed and applauded as Levy was given her fair share of love from her friends and family. She was overjoyed to be with them all once again and everything over the last several weeks seemed like a distant nightmare, that is until Lucy came through the crowd with her bright smile and then it all came crashing back to her. The nightmares and everything that she knew up until that point came flooding back with a vengeance. A visible sweat broke out on her forehead as Lucy embraced her. Her smile was forced and her friend could see it.

"Levy! Levy! Did you hear the good news?" cried Mirajane. "Lucy has a bun in the oven! Natsu and Lucy finally did it!" A howl of laughter erupted throughout the hall as Lucy turned ten shades of red and Natsu's chest puffed out visibly as he still refused to relinquish his hold on Loke's neck. Lucy's face held a brief look of concern as the pupils in Levy's eyes dilated in horror before being clouded over once again with some kind of curtain.

"Oh that's wonderful news! Lucy I'm so happy for you," Levy said as she placed a little bit of distance between her and the stellar mage, simultaneously bumping into Gajeel. His warm hands gently rested on her shoulders to steady her. Glancing up she smiled at him, but he did not smile back. Instead, with a growl, he threw her up over his shoulder and without a single word to those gathered around them, proceeded out the door.

In all honesty, Levy was too weak to argue with, kick or curse at him, so instead she simply limply accepted her fate as a sack of potatoes. She figured he would set her down soon enough and a few minutes into their exit he had her in his arms up front. Still not a word was said. Levy's head fell to the side as her eyes began to droop. The strength from her neck seemed to give out all at once. To be honest, she was glad to swiftly leave the guild, it was too much for her senses at that moment.

"Gajeel," she whispered.

"Hm?" He didn't look down, but focused on their destination.

"I'm glad I'm home." Her voice was so small it made him tighten his grip as his own throat seemed to close up. He nodded his head slowly before doing it more adamantly. His jaw clenched, his bottom lip stiffening subtly. He was thankful she could not see him up close from her angle and any foolish person who happened to look at him twice got a death glare that sent them packing.

Finally their destination was in sight. Levy's home had remained untouched since she had last closed the door. To be sure there was a visible layer of dust over everything. Gajeel kicked the door shut behind them none too delicately as he headed straight for the bedroom. Slowing his whirl of motions, he gently laid her out on the bed. By now, she was soundly asleep. Stepping back, Gajeel found a stool and pulled it up from behind, placing himself solidly next to her side, elbows resting on his knees and fingers interlaced to press against his still clenched mouth.

Something still wasn't right. She was most definitely his Levy, but she was still weighed by some phantom force and it was infuriating not knowing what it was. Asking her directly would probably be fruitless. He could shake it out of her, but in her current state, the chances of her snapping in half was highly likely. Though his inner need to conquest and claim was still alive and kicking, it was far more manageable than it was before. Perhaps it was the disruption in their dragon courtship or the overall change she underwent during her absence, he felt far more in control than he did over a week ago.

His thoughts were put on hold for a brief moment as Levy sighed and rolled closer to him, the blanket falling away from her shoulders. Gajeel absently recovered the exposed skin before turning back to his brooding. These circumstances remained the same until evening when Levy finally showed the first signs of stirring. Her eyes fluttered and she inhaled deeply before shifting slightly.

"Gajeel?" she whispered, her hand groping around in the dark, trying to find him. A moment later her hand was enveloped in his much larger one. Instantly he used the light lacrima to dimly fill the room so as not to hurt her eyes.

"I'm here," he said gruffly, having not used his voice all day. Sighing contentedly, she brought his hand to her mouth and nuzzled it. With a smile she shifted and indicated for him to slide in next to her. He hurriedly pulled off his boots as he acquiesced. For the first time in far too long, he held her properly and damned if he didn't feel his entire body start to shake with exhilaration. He hadn't realized how much he had missed this feeling of someone in his arms, specifically, her. Levy did not go unaffected as well as she clung to him. Pulling her head back, she attempted to get a proper look at him. He tilted his chin down to assist in the process. Gently he placed a feather kiss on her forehead. She shook her head, indicating that was not enough. A small rumble of a chuckle came from his chest as he leaned down and placed another one on her cheek. Again, she shook her head. His red eyes focused on her lips, the ultimate prize. Slowly, his lips began to lower themselves down to hers, craving what they had been deprived of for so long.

The moment was interrupted as the knocker on the front door banged loudly. With a curse, Gajeel flung back the covers, determined that there would be a murder tonight. The knocker broke through the silence again. Gajeel turned on all of the lights as he stomped to the door.

"All right, all right, ALL RIGHT!" he growled as he flung the door open. There, standing on the doorstep, was Lucy, clutching a covered pot in her hands. She smiled crookedly as she looked Gajeel up and down. He realized his clothes were rather disheveled and his face red as can be.

"Did I interrupt something?" she said slyly. He couldn't help the audible growl bursting from his lips. Shaking her head she handed over the pot with a smile.

"She's sleeping," he lied.

"I'm sure she is. I figured she would be hungry so I brought by some soup. It'll be easier on her stomach. Make sure that she eats a good portion of it before tomorrow night," Lucy said firmly. She made a move to leave, but hesitated. She glanced anxiously at Gajeel.

"Ne, Gajeel…"

"Yeah?" He just wanted her to leave already! What was it now?!

"Does Levy seem all right to you?" Lucy asked lowly, not wanting the person in question to hear her. Gajeel's shoulders stiffened. "I mean, yes she's been through a lot but I feel like something else isn't quite right."

"She's fine, Bunny girl."

"But…"

"I said she's fine!" he snapped. Lucy was taken aback for a moment before her eyes cast downwards.

"I see. Please let her know I dropped by when she wakes up." Gajeel snorted and turned to close the door.

"And Gajeel," she stopped him again. "Be gentle with her." He didn't even hesitate with his answer.

"There's no question that I will be." His gaze was not focused on Lucy, but off in the distance in the direction of the bedroom. Lucy nodded and moved off into the darkness where Natsu stood waiting with his hands in pockets.

For a long moment, Gajeel stood there holding the soup, staring at the lid. For some unfathomable reason, he had the urge to throw it across the room. It wasn't Bunny girl's fault. It wasn't anyone's fault, but he still felt helpless, even though the object of his affections and desires was safely home, he still felt like she was out of his reach. Taking a controlling breath, he gently placed the pot on the stove and turned on the gas. As he moved around to reheat the soup, he absently opened cupboards and drawers, looking for eating utensils and bowls. It was surprisingly in disarray. He had to hand it to Levy, she may have been a genius with books and academia, but when it came to household cleaning and organizing, she was far lacking. They would need to work on that. This brought a small smile to his lips finally as he began to stir the soup.

The floorboards creaked behind him, bringing his attention swiftly to Levy who stood with a blanket wrapped tightly around her body.

"Was that Lucy?" Gajeel nodded silently in reply as he looked back at the soup which had barely started steaming now.

"She brought by something to eat." He didn't see the softening of Levy's eyes as she took in the pot on the stove. Then her gaze began to rake his back as she watched his muscles move with ease. Very casually, he took a small sip of the soup from the spoon. After a moment of thought, he reached for the salt and pepper. Levy felt her cheeks get warmer as she saw the muscles ripple as he had to stretch to get them. His waist was narrowed, forming his upper body into a wonderful V. Despite his overwhelming size compared to her, he was quite well built, not too bulky like Elfman, but fast and strong. He was the perfect male specimen.

Gajeel did not fail to notice the silence and as the soup began to boil, he glanced over his shoulder at Levy only to do a double take. Her eyes were heavy with lust as she continued to admire his physique. Well well, what do we have here? Very carefully, he set aside the ladle and gave her his full attention. Slowly, she approached him, extending her arms to wrap their way around his waist. The blanket fell away from her like a cape, descending slowly to the floor. Gajeel felt his own eyes responding to her heat as she clasped him to her. Very carefully he leaned over and swept her up into his arms, bringing her to eyelevel as he finally claimed her lips, not wasting any time, afraid something would interrupt them again. He moved towards the bedroom, but Levy shook her head.

"No, here," she whispered demandingly as she ran kisses up and down his neck. He felt shivers slide up and down his spine as he felt her little hands make their way into his shirt. His heart stopped as he almost flung her on the table. Buttons flew everywhere as he ripped the shirt open. _Gently_. The word forced him to pull back, but she would have none of it as she pulled him in for another round of kisses. As he pulled away her pants he saw her first moment of hesitation. She had lost a lot of weight to the point where her ribs were just beginning to make a show of themselves. Her hands rose up to cover herself almost on reflex, but Gajeel stopped her with a shake of the head.

"You're beautiful, let me see you," he said roughly, his voice finding it difficult to come out steadily. Levy reluctantly complied before allowing him to investigate every nook and cranny, making sure she was all still in one piece. His hands were not idle either as they stroked, petted, and massaged her. Her insecurity vanished as her voice began to erupt from her of its own volition. Gajeel managed to somehow struggle from his own bindings and place his heat right up against her, demanding to have entrance. Looking at her with concern at the most pivotal moment, she nodded and forcibly relaxed her body as he entered. It was painful, having been so long and her body so worn out, but within the pain was a mix of satisfaction and fulfillment as Gajeel held himself back.

He did not want to hurt her and was afraid she might shatter if he moved too quickly.

"Levy…" he grit out as he felt her hands wrap around his neck. She nudged him from below with a silent voice of approval. Then he began the languid dance as she laid prone across the table, legs held up by his firm grip. He was determined to do all of the work. He would bring her to heaven on his hands and knees if necessary. His angel... right where she belonged.

"Gajeel!" she cried out repeatedly with every thrust as their bodies grew in heat and speed.

"Stay with me Levy," he grit out. "Ah!" He pushed on harder as they approached their final destination. "Levy, I'm going to…"

"Yes, Gajeel! Now!" He burst forward as he took them over the edge and into a warm sea of sensations. It is always after a heated moment such as this that the awkwardness of whatever position they had ended in becomes more prevalent. Levy smiled in exhaustion as she stared at the ceiling and for a very brief moment she had forgotten how she ended up there. Gajeel was putting most of his weight on her as his legs seemed to have given out from his standing position against the table. He finally leaned up and kissed her ever so tenderly.

"Gods, I missed you Levy." She smiled and wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back just as lovingly.

"And I missed you too, Gajeel." They continued to grin at one another before Gajeel lifted his nose up high in the air.

"Something's burning…" Both of them had the realization at the same time as their eyes turned big as saucers.

"The soup!" Yet another simultaneous outburst. Gajeel jumped up in the nude and in a panic began flipping the dials, forgetting for a moment how to turn the damn thing off. Huffing, he removed the pot from the stove and tried stirring it at the same time to see if there was anything worth saving.

"Gajeel, you shouldn't mess with the stove when you're…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" As was customary in the quiet town of Magnolia, a scream born from a blunder rang out through the night.

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A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! I am planning on pumping out another chapter or two if possible soon... ish... **Please R&R!**


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Thanks all for your wonderful support and reviews. I'm always appreciative of them!

DISCLAIMER: Mashima's. Seriously... do I need to keep up this disclaimer stuff? It's kind of obvious isn't it?

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"You want to what?" Lucy said as she sipped thirstily from a glass of water at the guild's bar. Mirajane listened quietly as she absently wiped the countertops.

"I want to harness the power you have now. Who knows how long you'll have it after the pregnancy, so now might be our only chance to examine it." Levy was, for the first time in a long while, excited about the prospect of learning something new. Her current covert research was draining, and trying to find loopholes in blockading it from Flin was harder than she had thought. He had eyes everywhere.

"Why would we want to harness…" Lucy started before catching onto Levy's meaningful look. "Natsu…" A grin spread across Levy's lips, delighted that Lucy had caught on so quickly.

"We can start whenever you are feeling up to it! I'll arrange for Gajeel to be out of the house and we can work on ways to keep the fire in a solitary form. Perhaps a bottle or box." Lucy seemed to caught some of the excitement as the possibilities began to blossom in her mind's eye.

"When do we start?"

* * *

"All right, so far we know that your fire is triggered by anger, but we have yet to see if it is subject specific," said Levy as she sifted through her notes, her glasses slowly inching their way down the bridge of her nose so as she had to periodically adjust them. The stellar mage sat with her hands clasped over her knees, bouncing them in anxiety as she tried to focus on her surroundings. Obviously, Lucy was slightly uncomfortable with this whole thing.

"Lucy, we can stop if you'd like. It was just a suggestion…"

"No, I want to do this," said the blonde determinedly. Levy hesitantly nodded as she took in her friend's stubborn expression. "All right, but the moment you change your mind…" Lucy rolled her eyes and smiled slightly.

"You worry too much! Now come on, make me angry so that we can get this show on the road!" she said good naturedly despite the topic of which she spoke. Levy fiddled with her shirt buttons as she stood to face Lucy. Trying to think of the best method to do this experiment. She had already cast a containment spell on an agreed-upon bottle of Lucy's choosing. However from her brief contact with the fire she knew instantly that the complete ferocity and wild nature of the flames would be difficult to contain. All she could do was hope for the best once the fire started spewing. On second thought, perhaps she should have suggested doing this in a more open, less personally flammable location. It was too late to move now. Might as well get it over with. Levy cleared her throat.

"Can you think of anything that would anger you right now?" she fished. Lucy's pupils dilated for a moment. That was not anger, but fear. Something was on Lucy's mind that she was not going to voice. Levy saw this right away as Lucy seemed to take a breath to put up a front, acting as though she were thinking hard.

"I don't know, perhaps the fact that the woman at the market gypped me on a new pair of boots that I just bought." Levy's face fell into her hand. This could be a bit harder than she thought.

"No, that won't do, you need to think of something else. Something that makes you so angry it makes your entire body shake. What about something involving Natsu? Has he done anything lately?"

Lucy's head shook slowly back and forth as she thought it through. Yes, perhaps he had done a few small things, but nothing of major importance to get incredibly angry over.

"Really?" asked Levy slyly. "Because I recall him complaining not too long ago about you constantly forgetting to tell him about things." Lucy's eyes widened and flared for a brief moment.

"What do you mean 'forgetting'?" she hissed lowly. Levy swallowed, rethinking the entire experiment. This was Lucy after all and no one liked to make her angry even by accident.

"You know, like that double date that you and Juvia had planned not too long ago. He said that you never told him about it and then just sprung it on him that day." Levy decided to commit to the task. "Doesn't that make you angry?" she said deviously as she wrapped her hand around the bottle nearby in preparation for what may come.

"I told him about that a week in advance!" Lucy snarled. "We talked it through twice before we went out!" Lucy was suddenly standing and pacing back and forth, obviously agitated. Yes, yes, this was going well so far.

"He also said that you always drink most of the milk and then put the carton back. Drives him nuts you know." Lucy's gaze fell in on Levy in outrage.

"Does that walking furnace realize that he is the one who drinks it, forgets, and then blames it on me?!" Levy nodded sympathetically as she thumbed her other hand through a book casually, seeing where this could take them.

"It doesn't seem that he does, but he has mentioned your excessive snoring." Levy saw Lucy's cheeks flame red from her peripheral. Her pacing quickened, seeking some kind of outlet for her frustration and irritation. Levy thought she might try to give it a little extra nudge. "Did I mention he blurted this all out at one time in front of the entire guild?" Levy apologized silently to Natsu as Lucy swung around yelling at the top of her lungs.

"NATSU!"

* * *

The fire dragon slayer felt a chill run down his spine as he had been preparing to throw a knife at an apple sitting atop Gray's head standing across the guild hall. He relaxed his arm momentarily to look around for its source.

"Oi!" Gray yelled in irritation. "Can we get this over with?!" His arms stood wide against a wooden pillar, waiting for his inevitable doom. Juvia stood back with tears in her eyes, praying into her hands.

"Shut up! I just thought I felt a draft!"

"If you are so stuck up on drafts, then maybe you shouldn't be throwing sharp objects Cotton Brain!"

"Don't snap at me! You're the one who was stupid enough to bet that I wouldn't be able to do this! Now hold still!" yelled Natsu as he prepared his throwing arm once again.

* * *

"Watch out!" yelled Levy as she dove behind yet another stack of books, sadly sacrificed to the spewing flames spurting from Lucy's mouth. Getting Lucy angry wasn't the problem it would seem, the problem was harnessing it once it started and start it did. Lucy's raging inferno turned into over-stimulated hiccups and every time one would erupt from her mouth, a burst of flames would soon follow.

"I'm so sorry!" cried Lucy as she attempted to cover her mouth, trying to aim anywhere but the books, furniture or Levy. It was no easy task. Levy sighed as she stood up and dusted herself off. Every time she attempted to stand close enough to get the bottle positioned, Lucy's fire would erupt and force her back under the cover of her precious books.

"This isn't working. We need to try it from another angle," mumbled Levy as she snatched up a nearby book. "Perhaps if we funnel it into the bottle by creating a field leading into it." Levy contemplated this as she thought of ways to accomplish what they had set out to do. The idea currently inhabiting her mind seemed to stick. That's it! They needed to be in a situation where the fire would only consume oxygen! Levy saw immediately the flaw in the plan. The fire Lucy was producing wasn't just any fire. It was born from magic and emotions. Those would also be difficult to harness and contain. How in all of Earthland were they going to get her uncontrollable fire into that tiny bottle? Levy was nearly stumped before she had a thought. With an exuberant shriek, Levy dove into a seemingly random pile of books.

Lucy stared on with her hand still plastered to her mouth as her friend shoved aside one book after another before finding what she sought. With a victorious cry, Levy plopped down in the middle of the room and flipped the book open with an expert hand. Quickly she read through the script, one page after another before slamming the book closed firmly, having learned what she needed.

"I think I have a way of getting the fire into the bottle!" Levy cried.

"How?!" Lucy jumped to sit across from her friend.

"It's a bit dangerous, but in theory it should work…" Levy said worriedly, seeing formulas and script that no one else could in her mind's eye. The first bit of doubt crept into Lucy's voice.

"What do you mean dangerous?" Levy was so absorbed in her planning she failed to notice the hesitance right away.

"It could blow up everyone with a two mile radius." Levy's thoughts were interrupted as she heard Lucy choking on her own tongue.

"What?! Are you mad?! We can't do something that dangerous!"

"There is only a slight chance really. Magic would be unusable for a little while in the area, including lacrima, but only for a few hours."'

"The lacrima isn't what I'm worried about, it's the blowing up part that you just mentioned!" Fire spurted out in small bursts as Lucy began her pacing again.

"I'm sure I can tweak it so that no one would get hurt, Lucy." Levy jumped up and grabbed hold of her friend's hand and stared her in the eye.

"I know it's risky, but please Lucy, you have to trust me. I can do this." Levy said this complete confidence and certainty. For a long moment, Lucy looked her up and down with a mild bit of doubt.

"Is it worth it?" she finally croaked out. Levy's hand tightened.

"Lucy, there is a great danger coming that I cannot begin to describe to you. We are going to need all the strength we can get. So… yes… it's worth it." The sudden serious atmosphere had Lucy's heart racing. What was Levy referring to? Could it be she was referring to Vetro? _(*refer to __Poking a Sleeping Dragon__)_

All Levy could think of was the cryptic smile on Flin's face as he gave her his insufferable demands. Yes, a storm was approaching quickly. They would most certainly need all the help that they could muster. She squeezed the blonde's hands yet again.

"Your son will be unharmed, I swear on my life. I swear on Gajeel's. Do you trust me, Lucy?" Her friend swallowed and slowly nodded before doing it more determinedly.

"Yes, I trust you."

"Good, let's do this."

* * *

Three hours. That's how long it took for Levy to create the script that would envelope the entire household and far beyond. That's how far the barrier would need to be in order to contain stray bits of magic. She went through the script over and over. Perhaps that is what took most of the time, was the revisions and double and triple checking of the spell.

The concept was that within two miles, nothing would hold magic and nothing would be able to use magic. It might as well have been a slice straight out of Edolas. Levy allowed one single strand of thread to flow from Lucy's hand into the bottle. Only moments before had she cast a spell exempting that thread from any lack of magic. In fact, in a void where magic was unusable, the string might as well have been a magnet for magic.

Lucy sat fiddling with her end of the string as she watched Levy make the final preparations.

"Are you sure this will work?" she asked anxiously. Levy nodded gravely.

"I've done this on a small scale within the house." Levy adjusted a bowl holding multiple herbs and magical remedies. She would begin her scripting soon and everything had to be just right.

"Were you successful?" Lucy's anxiety was showing. Levy nodded as her eyes focused back on another piece of literature laying out the procedure.

"In a sense."

"In a sense? How in a sense?"

"Well, I managed to contain the magic, but there was a slight side effect." Levy glanced up nervously at Lucy.

"What?"

"I might have sort of burnt off several patches of my hair in the process." She could hear Lucy audibly gulping. "Well!" she said merrily as she clapped her hands together. "Shall we begin?"

A few moments later, chanting filled the room as the scripts were written out with speed and deadly accuracy. Levy's eyes were closed as her lips moved to an ancient rhythm. Drawing circles in random patterns as she dropped a strand of Lucy's hair into the bowl followed by a piece of cut string. The stopper of the bottle they wished to fill also sat within the bowl. After what seemed an eternity, Levy had a grasp of it and knew that it was time.

With a final command, Levy stood and allowed her own magic power to flow from her, vanishing for a period of time into thin air. The magic surrounding them suddenly dissipated from every nook and cranny within the house and the surrounding city blocks. Lucy had grown so accustomed to being surrounded by magic that its sudden departure was like having the air abruptly taken away. It left her heaving as she grasped firmly onto the thread. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lucy saw Levy's eyes connect with hers before she nodded for Lucy to complete her part. Slowly, as she had been instructed, she raised the thread to her lips and she blew ever so gently onto the thread. Nothing happened. She tried again. Still nothing.

Levy saw immediately what the problem was. Lucy was no longer angry. Through clenched teeth and a strained voice, Levy managed to croak out two words.

"Excessive… snoring…"

Lucy's eyes popped wide open as her jaw strained. The nostrils flared as her eyes began to narrow. She blew again onto the string. This time a golden thread seemed to wind its way around the enchanted one. It danced and tangled its way closer to the bottle. Finally, after a few hesitant dabbles, it dove into the prepared space. Quickly, Levy stuffed the stopper in after it and gave a cry of victory. Her sudden lack of concentration cost her as the room suddenly was filled with a bright white light. Lucy and Levy covered their eyes as it ripped like a feasible force, sending books flying, chairs crashing and windows shattering.

It took quite a while before Levy felt her eyes flutter open to the concerned look of her best friend, hovering closely overhead.

"Did we do it?" she said groggily as she pressed her hand against her temple. Lucy's smudged face broke out into a huge grin as she held aloft a glowing bottle. Inside danced fire, one that Levy had never, or ever would see, again. The golden embers of it were fleeting, waxing and waning. It was beautiful and Levy smiled. At least she had done something right.

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A/N: Please R&R! Thanks guys!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Sorry it's been so long! Just trying to get back on the horse again with the writing. Please R&R!

DISCLAIMER: Not mine.

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It wasn't long after that the guild was disseminated across all of Fiore investigating the strange disappearances of children and in some rare occasions the mages that went to investigate before Fairy Tail. Somehow Gajeel and Erza were teamed up to head just due west of the Magnolia, but it still brought Levy a feeling of loneliness as she poured over her books and scrolls. She felt like she was on the verge of a breakthrough. She only needed now to see if she could tweak some of the original scripts that had allowed Vetro control of the Nova Link and ultimately taking on the power of the Trinity Maiden. It was a horrific power that was used for only one purpose, utter destruction, and Flin was dead set on attaining that magic for himself. Whoever held that power was liable to rule over everyone no matter their status or power. Holding the wellbeing if Lucy and her unborn child hostage was his playing card and it was quite effective.

There were still several holes for Levy to fill and to be honest, she probably never will, but it was enough of what she had gathered to know that there might be a way of sealing away the Nova Link, and Vetro right along with it. It was a laborious task and often times quite tedious. Levy spent extra time making sure that she made some appearances within the guild so as not to arouse suspicion. Should Flin find out that others knew of his greedy desires, he would make sure to take down not only Lucy, but the entire guild as well. Levy had no doubt that he had power and prestige to do so.

Sitting cross legged in those damnable archives again, Levy was sieving through the latest piece of information that had surfaced. She was puzzling over the complexity of the formulas and philosophy behind the essence of a Nova Link. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, flashed and faded into a low glow. She could instantly feel the presence of a barrier formed within the room. He was here.

She took a deep breath and stood up at the ready. It was the first time that he had come calling and most certainly wouldn't be the last. He was checking in on her progress and making sure that his pet was running on a short leash.

"Ah, Levy my dear, no need to stand," he said from the shadows as he parted from them. His hologram was so well done that she could have sworn he was actually standing right in front of her. Though his physical body may not have been there, his power was still quite a force to be reckoned with, so Levy was cautious at the very least. He could still manifest true physical contact and that was a difficult thing to accomplish.

"Flin, to what do I owe the displeasure?" she answered with false sweetness.

"Don't get cheeky," he said sharply. The man was powerful, but he was also immensely vain as he turned and looked at himself in the surface of an oil lamp. Seeing as everything was satisfactory, he straightened and looked around with an air of boredom. He took in the books strewn across the floor and then the rows of them reaching the ceiling on shelves. "I see that you are hard at work." Levy tensed, already feeling some of the sweat beading on her forehead.

"I've made a little bit of progress." For a moment it seemed as though he had not heard her. He tinkered with one book, looked at another. Finally he deemed to respond.

"Well a little is not enough. I'm growing impatient with your tardiness. I'm beginning to think that you might be stalling."

"Th-the scrolls are very difficult to decipher. They need to be read correctly or else the meaning could be misconstrued. If… if you just give me some time…" Her excuse was immediately cut short as she felt a force squeeze down on her delicate neck. She choked and clawed involuntarily at the invisible vice. It lifted slightly so only the tips of her toes scraped against the ground. Flin stood casually with his hands clasped behind his back. He only unclasped them briefly to sweep a wisp of hair that had gotten lose back into place. Smiling good naturedly he took a step forward as though speaking with an old friend.

"Oh my dear, time is a luxury that I'm afraid I cannot give you." The force eased up slightly but yet still managed to hold her in complete submission. Releasing his hands from behind he ventured to rest a finger against her cheek and run it like a feather down to her chin. She flinched and tried to suppress the shiver that ran up her spine. Damned if she could actually feel the bastard's finger as though it was there. "Now, I do acknowledge that it is a difficult task," he said quietly as his eyes wandered over her features, dipped to her lips. Levy wrenched her body as she felt the tip of the forefinger slither down her neck.

"Ah, ah," he said shortly in warning. It took every ounce of strength in her to force her body immobile. "But I do believe," he went on. "That it is a fair trade. The safety of your friend and her child in exchange for a little bit of leg work. Don't you think?" Levy did not answer as her lips pressed firmly together, refusing to scream. The finger was still running along her neck, her collarbone. She saw his eyes dip hungrily down towards the open-V of her shirt and she felt sick. For a moment longer he plucked at the top button of the blouse before suddenly stepping away. The force holding her aloft dissipated just as quickly.

"I look forward to seeing the results, Miss McGarden," he said in a sing-song voice as he turned away and began to walk back into the shadows. It was long moments of heaving and sobbing before Levy felt as though she could think rationally again as her body lay crumbled where it was released. And when she did only one overwhelming emotion reigned supreme; hate. She hated him. She hated the ground he walked on. She hated his smile, his voice, his very presence made her want to vomit. He looked at her like no more than a piece of meat. She would make him pay in blood. She would make him suffer. She would eat his soul…

The thought brought her up short and she could feel the sobs all over again. What had happened to her? These horrible emotions had never intruded on her before. Never. Even after Gajeel had attacked her and her nakama, it was not enough to make her feel such hatred. But now, with a drop of a hat she was ready to rip the heart out of a man. That was not the way of Fairy Tail. That was not who she was. Levy McGarden was not a woman who fell to revulsion and animosity so easily.

Again she was reminded of the remnant emotions she had been struggling to separate herself from after the Crynthia incident.

She finally stood shakily, struggling to rebuild that barrier once again between those emotions and those of the person she knew she was. Every time was becoming more and more difficult.

It wasn't until later that evening in bed that she lay exhausted and spent, wishing deeply for Gajeel. She wanted him by her side now more than ever. She may not have been able to tell him what was happening, but he always managed to bring a sense of calm to her. From the window she saw a shadow and as though he had heard her call, he hopped in off the ledge. His eyes taking in his surroundings and settling in on Levy.

"The door was locked so I thought I'd use the window. Natsu always said that Lucy's window was open so I thought maybe I'd give it a try tonight…" His sentence was cut short as Levy threw herself from her bed into his stunned arms.

"Gajeel!" Her arms wove tightly around his neck.

"Woah, oi, Levy. What is this?" He felt her shaking uncontrollably. He was about to push further but her face turned up and she latched onto his lips as though it was the only source of air in the room. Whatever it was he was trying to form into words was left abandoned on the floor of his mind. Instead they wasted no time hurling themselves into bed. There was no time for foreplay or pleasantries. Levy needed him. She needed to know that there was still love in her world. She barely even attempted to shuck her clothes before he was on her, in her, filling her.

Gajeel had only been gone four days, but it had felt like a month before he finally abandoned Erza's half way to the guild. They were headed back, having found nothing. Erza had recognized his impatience and subtly suggested that she drop by a nearby village to look at a new shipment of sheets of iron for her armor. Perhaps he would like to go on ahead without her. He had barely acknowledged the kindness in the gesture before he had taken off ahead of her. He had shunned sleeping that last leg of the journey in favor of getting back to his Levy as soon as possible. It was unfortunate timing that he had arrived so late at night, but even if it meant staring at her like a lovesick stalker through her window, he went straight to her home to check in on her. Needless to say, he was surprised to find her waiting for him, well sort of.

All of this was to be explained to Levy later, but right now all he could do was focus on her smell, the feel of her skin, the glitter in her eyes. The glitter looked suspiciously like tears and every time he made to inquire, she would make a move that would render him speechless. Levy rested herself atop him and gripped his hands firmly in hers as she moved to the music only she could hear now. Gajeel lay back stunned by the very sight of her. The beauty and elegance he saw was overwhelming and in a moment's thought, she was back beneath him as he took her without restraint.

Levy reveled in the feel of his skin rubbing headily against her own. The sweat was becoming like a second layer of skin to the both of them, but the lovers were so enraptured with one another that it went unnoticed. She felt him press his weight down on her and she inhaled his scent in huge lungs full.

"Gajeel…" she whispered desperately as they rose up towards that crest. He leaned up on his elbows and pinned her hands under his, weaving their fingers together. He picked up speed, answering her silent call. Quickly, almost too quickly, they rose up and plummeted back down to earth.

It must have been close to morning before Gajeel felt like he was in the realm of the living. They had continued to embrace over and over that night, as though Levy was afraid he would get up and walk out at any moment.

He knew something was wrong. She was hiding it and he was being patient, but the time was coming where she would tell him. He was going to make damned sure of that.

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A/N: Thanks guys for all of the support and nice comments! **Please R&R!**


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